Private data from Trump's security consultants on the net - Washington alerted!

Private data from Trump's security consultants on the net - Washington alerted!

Private contact details of security advisors of US President Donald Trump have become accessible on the Internet, which is a significant security risk. Research by the German news magazine "Der Spiegel" showed that mobile numbers, email addresses and some passwords were published by high-ranking government officials. The national security advisor Mike Waltz, the US secret service coordinator Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth are affected, among others. The information comes from commercial person search engines as well as chopped customer data and many of the published contact details are still used by those affected, OE24 reports .

The data is also linked to profiles on social networks such as Instagram and LinkedIn. Dropbox accounts and apps for running data recording are also used for the people concerned. It is particularly alarming that WhatsApp accounts are linked to the published telephone numbers. Gabard and Waltz also have profiles at Signal. Despite multiple inquiries, the people concerned did not respond to the media inquiries, which further underlines the worrying security situation in Washington.

potential risks

The published data could be used by enemy secret services to chop systems and to use critical information. A discussion about military strategies against the Yemeni Huthi militias took place, for example, in a signal chat group, in which CIA boss John Ratcliffe also took part. This is a serious threat, since exposed data enable phishing attacks and facilitate access to devices and services. In addition, attackers could carry out Deepfake attacks, whereby the image and sound material available online are used.

The cyber security landscape has changed significantly in recent years. According to das-wissen.de , digitization has led to a growing amount of sensitive data on the Internet. The threats with which companies, state institutions and private individuals are confronted today include ransomware, phishing, DDOS attacks and zero-day exploits. The development of these threats and the professionalization of cybercrime are alarming. For example, ransomware attacks have caused massive economic damage in the past, as the well-known WannaCry attack in 2017 showed.

The situation of IT security in Germany

parallel to these threats, the current report on the situation of IT security in Germany from the Federal Office of Safety in Information Technology (BSI) shows that the cyberlage is also worrying here. Cybercriminals are increasingly using modern technologies and have created established structures for criminal services in the cyber space. The report emphasizes that Germany has made progress in the direction of resilient cybernation, but continuous cooperation between manufacturers, operators and consumers is necessary to ensure security standards. Security measures must be updated regularly and adapted to the constantly changing threat situation in order to remain effective, such as Notes .