BERLIN: Private data belonging to top security advisers to US President Donald Trump, including their phone numbers, email addresses and even passwords, can be accessed online, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Wednesday, adding to the embarrassing messaging app fiasco by his administration last week.
Mobile phone numbers, email addresses and, in some cases, passwords used by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth can be found via commercial data-search services and hacked data dumped online, it said.
The phone numbers and email addresses—mostly current—were in some cases used for Instagram and LinkedIn profiles, cloud-storage service Dropbox, and apps that track a user’s location.
The Gabbard and Waltz numbers were reportedly linked to accounts on messaging services WhatsApp and Signal.
Der Spiegel said that left them exposed to having spyware installed on their devices.
It said it was even possible foreign agents were spying during the episode that has landed the trio in hot water: a recent Signal group chat on top-secret US plans for air strikes on Yemen’s Huthi rebels on 15 March.
Waltz inadvertently included a journalist in the chat—The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
The magazine published details of the conversation on Wednesday.
Der Spiegel said the three officials had not responded to its requests for comment.
The National Security Council said the Waltz accounts and passwords referenced by the German magazine had all been changed in 2019.
