Mobile numbers, email addresses and passwords were found through contact lookup services and password leaks. Among those affected were White House Counsel Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Some of the contacts are still associated with social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Signal.
Mobile numbers, email addresses and passwords were found through contact lookup services and password leaks. Among those affected were White House Counsel Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Some of the contacts are still associated with social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Signal.
«The exposed data from leading politicians allows attackers to carry out convincing phishing attacks and hack into devices and various services such as email, chat tools or PayPal,» writes Spiegel, citing Donald Ortmann, a specialist in information security, information collection and social engineering. He supports companies and governments after cyberattacks.
Furthermore, he explained that deepfake attacks can be carried out using images and audio materials available online to participate in virtual meetings.
Compromised accounts could give attackers the ability to «install malware, monitor communications, and engage in political blackmail.»
Donald Trump, when asked about the security scandal, said he knew nothing about it.
As a reminder, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the American magazine «The Atlantic,» was invited, probably by accident, to a group chat of high-ranking government officials, where a military strike against Houthi terrorists (Yemen) was being discussed. Donald Trump’s advisor took responsibility for the journalist’s appearance in the closed chat. The journalist was able to read confidential information live, and later published a dramatic security breach in an article.
