The personal information, like mobile numbers, email addresses, and certain passwords of senior US President Donald Trump’s security advisers, is accessible on the internet, according to a Wednesday report by German news magazine Der Spiegel.
After the Signal chat controversy, this is another case of sensitive information being leaked from the Trump administration.
The publication revealed that sensitive details, including mobile numbers, email addresses and certain passwords belonging to national security advisor Mike Waltz, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, are found through commercial data-search platforms and leaked online databases.
These contact details, which remain largely current, were associated with various digital platforms including Instagram, LinkedIn, Dropbox and location-tracking applications.
The report indicated that Gabbard and Waltz’s contact information was connected to their WhatsApp and Signal messaging accounts.
According to the German publication, most of these numbers and email addresses are still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn.
And these data were were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.
Spiegel found some of the contact information for Gabbard, Hegseth and Waltz in commercial databases, while other information was in so-called password leaks, which are hardly a rarity on the internet.
The German media outlet found it relatively straightforward to obtain Hegseth’s contact details. They utilised a commercial database service, typically employed by businesses for sales and recruitment purposes.
By submitting Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile link to the database provider, they received his Gmail address, mobile number and additional information. Further investigation of data breaches showed his email address and password appeared in more than 20 public leaks. They confirmed the email address remained active through publicly accessible information.
Director of National Intelligence Gabbard demonstrated greater digital security awareness compared to her two colleagues. Whilst she managed to restrict her information on commercial contact databases used to find Hegseth and Waltz, her email address appeared on both WikiLeaks and Reddit platforms.
Records indicated Gabbard’s email address featured in over 10 data breaches. One breach contained a partial phone number that, once completed, connected to active WhatsApp and Signal accounts.
“Exposed data from top politicians can be used by hackers to launch convincing phishing attacks and gain access to devices and various services such as email, chat tools and PayPal,” says Donald Ortmann, a specialist in information security, information procurement and social engineering. He supports companies and authorities following cyberattacks.
