A German newspaper claims it has obtained private data and contact details from the internet, including passwords, belonging to several high-ranking U.S. security officials such as the Defense Secretary and a former anchor at Fox News.
Pete Hegseth
.
Reporters from
Der Spiegel
Utilized widely-used people-search platforms, coupled with “customer data that was exposed through hacking” and made public online.
In addition to Hegseth, individuals whose leaked information was discovered online include National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and National Intelligence Director.
Tulsi Gabbard
on Wednesday, the newspaper reported.
Der Spiegel
discovered the extensive data collection following the significant U.S. security incident “Signalgate” earlier this month.
The Atlantic
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, mistakenly found himself included in a group chat on Signal, an encryption platform for public use, as government officials discussed specific U.S. bombing strategies in Yemen.
On the same day, March 15, Houthi targets were subsequently attacked, resulting in 53 fatalities, which included children. Goldberg eventually covered this incident.
security breach
Almost ten days later on Monday.
Spiegel journalists managed to locate personal email addresses and cellphone numbers, as well as “privately utilized but publicly available” Signal app phone numbers associated with both Gabbard and Waltz. The paper pointed out that some of this obtained information remains current.
The warning stated that “adversarial intelligence agencies” might exploit easily accessible information to infiltrate the communications of officials with technology vulnerabilities by deploying surveillance software across their multiple devices.
It’s possible that foreign operatives were aware of the Signal chat group where Gabbard, Waltz, and Hegseth talked about a potential military action, since the officials’ communications might have already been compromised, as Der Spiegel pointed out.
The Independent
contacted the three individuals designated by
Der Spiegel.
None of the three replied to the German newspaper prior to the publication of the article.
The Trump administration has played down the security breach concerning the bomb plots in Yemen, maintaining that the details were not considered classified. The President stated this position.
Donald Trump
Has referred to the violation as ”
not a big deal
.”
Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey stated on social media on Monday that disclosing classified military data via Signal, a publicly accessible hacking-resistant encrypted messaging application, would
reveal the details to foreign intelligence
and would risk lives.
He referred to upcoming U.S. military activities as some of “the most sensitive” information, emphasizing, “Here, we’re discussing the safety of Air Force and Navy pilots” participating in these missions.
McCaffrey maintained that a military officer in a comparable scenario would be subject to a court-martial for using an insecure application to handle sensitive communications.
The bipartisan American Oversight group
has sued several participants
During the Yemen Signal discussion, it was pointed out that officials from the Trump administration deliberately refrained from utilizing secure communication channels to evade federal record-keeping regulations.
The signal service lacks security and is not considered “an authorized system for safeguarding federal records” because it doesn’t meet record-keeping standards, since messages within the app have the capability of being deleted, states the lawsuit.
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