Private Data of Senior Trump Officials Exposed

The personal contact information and vital details of key advisors to former U.S. President Donald Trump have been reportedly made accessible through various commercial data aggregation services, raising significant security concerns.

A recent investigation indicates that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had their mobile numbers, email addresses, and even some password details exposed online, with many of the contact points still active. This information was obtained by the German publication Der Spiegel utilizing commercial people search engines and compromised customer databases.

The incident escalates existing national security issues, particularly regarding the use of the Signal messaging application by high-ranking Trump officials for sensitive communications. The potential vulnerability raises alarms about the likelihood of adversaries gaining access to critical information and accounts belonging to Cabinet members. Der Spiegel highlighted that acquiring Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s mobile number and email was alarmingly straightforward via a widely used commercial contact database.

This exposure comes on the heels of reports earlier this year by Mandiant about a surge in social engineering tactics employed by Russian intelligence targeting Ukrainian Signal users. The tactics included distributing a malicious QR code that enabled attackers to link their devices to victims’ Signal accounts, thereby granting persistent access to communications (see: Ukrainian Signal Users Fall to Russian Social Engineering).

Gabbard’s email address has reportedly surfaced multiple times on platforms such as Reddit and Wikileaks, in addition to a partial phone number that links to both her Signal profile and an active WhatsApp account. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the White House, and the Department of Defense have not responded to requests for comments. A representative for Gabbard stated to the magazine that she had ceased using the relevant platforms for several years and had altered her passwords multiple times.

In a related development, the nonpartisan organization American Oversight filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Trump administration officials reportedly involved in a Signal group chat concerning military strategies against Houthi forces in Yemen. The lawsuit contends that these officials utilized Signal to evade record-keeping regulations.

Additional investigations have shed light on the vulnerability of even senior officials to data breaches. Recent findings from Incogni, a data deletion firm, revealed that a significant number of U.S. appellate court judges have sensitive personal information—such as home addresses, phone numbers, and names of relatives—easily accessible on people search platforms.