Sean Spicer didn't pay $8 to hide his WHOIS data and now everyone knows about his tie business

Impact

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who during the campaign season was one of the Republican political operatives spearheading harsh attacks on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's unsecured private email server, apparently left unsecured domain registration data exposing parts of his online history.

According to Mashable, Spicer left unsecured WHOIS web registration data that would have cost just $7.99 annually to keep anonymous. As a result, Spicer's personal information "including his home address, and his personal phone number," as well as a Yahoo email address, were all left publicly available information as of Monday.

Mashable also discovered the press secretary registered several websites, including ones related to political campaigns, a personal page and the now defunct "theelephanttrunk.org" — which appears to be Spicer's attempt at a GOP-themed tie business.

Mashable/WHO.IS
Mashable/WHO.IS

"The Elephant Trunk" advertised a series of ties bearing the GOP's elephant mascot on various colored backgrounds, each priced at $39 (discounted from $45). While the Elephant Trunk website itself is only accessible using internet archival sources like the Wayback Machine, an associated Facebook fan page remained online as of Tuesday evening.

"Hurry — if you need that perfect gift for the Republican man in your life order today and get by Chirstmas," one post on the Facebook fan page said.

Twitter was typically unforgiving.

When Mic called the phone number discovered by Mashable, an automated voicemail message including a recording of Spicer's voice said his mailbox was now full.

That's not all: According to Mashable, Spicer's phone number previously appeared in a WikiLeaks dump of Democratic National Committee emails, meaning "he didn't change it. After it was on Wikileaks." Furthermore, the Yahoo email address listed as Spicer's was listed as compromised on account security website Have I Been Pwned.

It's the second Spicer-related privacy bust in 24 hours. Last night, internet users discovered the press secretary's unsecured Venmo account and spammed him with small change (often for $.69) as well as money requests (in many cases for considerably more cash).

But information security may not be all the press secretary has to worry about. In the wake of a series of discrediting appearances before the White House Press Corps in which Spicer misled the public about the size of Trump's inaugural crowds and harassed the media, Politico reported a Saturday Night Live skit starring comedian Melissa McCarthy was "not considered helpful for Spicer's longevity in the grueling, high-profile job."

The $7.99 might have been worth it.