The contact details and passwords of high-ranking US officials have been found online, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.
According to the German magazine, the data pertains to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
These three officials were involved in a controversy surrounding a group chat on Signal this week, in which plans to conduct air attacks on Yemen's Houthi rebels were discussed.
Der Spiegel found their phone numbers, email addresses, and passwords using commercial search engines and publicly available hacked data. However, the magazine did not verify whether the passwords were still valid.
Many of the numbers and emails are reportedly still in use and linked to accounts on WhatsApp, Instagram, and LinkedIn, among others.
Der Spiegel stated that Gabbard’s and Waltz’s private numbers, which were publicly accessible, were linked to Signal accounts. It remains unclear whether these officials were added to the Houthi-related discussion via these phone numbers.
On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed that he was accidentally included in the confidential Trump administration group chat.
Through this chat, he received detailed plans for airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthis two hours before they began, including precise information about weapons, targets, and timings.
