PTOE Corporation Confirms Cyberattack: Official Website Hijacked and Redirected to Chinese Malware Domain
Sheridan, WY, Oct. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PTOE Corporation today confirmed that its official website, https://www.ptoe.com, was compromised and temporarily replaced with a fraudulent Chinese shopping website loaded with malware. The breach occurred on the evening of October 7, when PTOE’s monitoring systems and GoDaddy detected unauthorized DNS modifications and sudden downtime.
Within hours, PTOE’s cybersecurity partner Sucuri Security launched a full remediation operation. The hijacked domain—redirecting visitors to an external Chinese-language site distributing malicious code—was quarantined, scrubbed, and hardened. All injected files have been removed, and Google has confirmed that ptoe.com is clean, responsive, and fully restored.
“Our systems detected unusual DNS activity linked to ptoe.com and immediately triggered an alert,” said Allan, Senior Security Analyst at GoDaddy. “The domain was found to have been rerouted without authorization to a third-party server hosting a Chinese-language shopping page containing malicious payloads. We worked with PTOE’s team and Sucuri to secure the DNS, remove all malware, and confirm the domain’s safety.”
“This wasn’t just a routine hack—it was a targeted act of digital vandalism meant to silence an American company speaking openly about mineral independence,” said James O’Connor, COO and spokesperson for PTOE Corporation. “The fact that our site was cloned into a foreign malware operation speaks volumes about how high the stakes really are.”
O’Connor explained that the attack appears to have been a deliberate attempt to access sensitive intellectual-property data related to PTOE’s recently announced System X technology.
“The breach began only days after our September 25, 2025 System X announcement, which has drawn global attention for its disruptive potential in critical-mineral processing,” O’Connor stated. “It’s clear this was not random. Fortunately, no PTOE technology IP was compromised, and the intrusion was contained to the public-facing layer of our site.”
PTOE Corp confirmed that absolutely no user or customer data was accessed during the incident. The attack exploited a vulnerability within a WordPress plugin—now fully patched. Additional protective measures, including firewall fortification, CAPTCHA integration, and multi-tier password protocols, have been implemented to prevent recurrence.
While PTOE Corp will not speculate about any specific actors behind the intrusion, the company emphasized that the timing aligns with a recent surge in cyber incidents targeting U.S. energy, mining, and infrastructure organizations.
“Cybersecurity and mineral security are now one and the same,” O’Connor added. “This attack reinforces why America must secure not just its physical resources—but the digital infrastructure that protects them. China is well known for infiltrating U.S. companies to steal intellectual property, particularly amid rising tensions over critical minerals and President Trump’s renewed pushback on China’s rare earth dominance.”
PTOE is coordinating with GoDaddy and federal authorities to ensure full transparency and accountability regarding the incident.
About PTOE Corporation
PTOE Corporation is an American technology and mineral innovation company dedicated to strengthening the nation’s independence across the full critical-mineral supply chain—from exploration to refining to advanced manufacturing.
Lauren Rose, Director of Media Relations PTOE Corporation (888) 831-9281 media@ptoe.com
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