Experts say White House call for programmers was risky – Knowligent
Experts say White House call for programmers was risky

Experts say White House call for programmers was risky

HomeHow to, TechExperts say White House call for programmers was risky

A few days after President Biden was sworn in, people saw a secret message hidden on the White House's new website calling for the hiring of programmers.

The message hidden in the HTML of the website reads: "If you're reading this, we need your help to build better. https://usds.gov." Of course, only those who are looking for something can find the code. That's why experts say Easter eggs like this aren't a good move for cybersecurity.

"When you write software, you have to present the information to users through a defined interface. But implying that they can find something useful by poking around and looking in unusual places, I think encourages the wrong behavior," Ed Amoroso, CEO of TAG Cyber, told Lifewire in a phone interview.

The now-not-so-secret call for programmers to join the White House technology team, known as US Digital Services, was first discovered by a Twitter user and was aimed at those with technology savvy and the curiosity to peer into the White House's HTML code during the first few days of the new administration.