Data leak exposes Trump advisors, risks national security
Private data of key advisors to U.S. President Donald Trump, including phone numbers and email addresses, are available on the internet, reveals "Spiegel" magazine. The German media are alarmed that the leak could pose a serious threat to national security.
What you need to know
- Private data of advisors to U.S. President Donald Trump have been made available on the internet - revealed "Spiegel".
- Among the people whose data leaked are, among others, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
- Publicly available data could be used by hostile intelligence services to hack the communications of these individuals.
What data from the U.S. leaked?
The German magazine "Spiegel" reported that the private contact data of key advisors to U.S. President Donald Trump, including cell phone numbers and email addresses, are available on the internet. In some cases, passwords were also disclosed.
Data from Trump's team leaked: Serious consequences
The contact data of Gabbard, Hegseth, and Waltz, analyzed by "Spiegel", were found partially in commercial databases and partially in the so-called password leaks.
The German weekly's site pointed out that most publicly available numbers and email addresses are likely still in use. Some of them are linked, among others, to profiles on Instagram and LinkedIn. This suggests that, knowing the phone numbers, one could also find profiles on WhatsApp and sometimes even accounts on the Signal messenger.
As the German magazine emphasized, the data leak could pose a serious threat to U.S. national security. Hostile intelligence services could use publicly available data to hack the communications of these individuals by infecting their devices with spyware.
"Spiegel" did not disclose the data
To protect the privacy of American politicians, "Spiegel" did not publish phone numbers, email addresses, or discovered passwords.
The editorial team informed Gabbard, Hegseth, and Waltz about the results of the journalistic investigation. "Spiegel" emphasizes that no test was conducted to check whether the email passwords still work.
