The private contact information of key members of President Donald Trump’s top security circle — including Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth — has reportedly been exposed online through hacked databases and commercial people search engines.
The bombshell report comes from Germany’s Der Spiegel, which confirmed that the personal phone numbers, email addresses, and even passwords of these high-level officials can now be accessed by virtually anyone — including foreign intelligence agencies.
According to the news outlet, “The reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web.”
According to the report, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were among those whose personal data was discovered in online leaks.
Spiegel journalists say they were able to link the exposed phone numbers to active WhatsApp and Signal accounts, raising serious concerns that foreign adversaries may have had — or still have — access to critical communications.
“Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices. It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike,” according to the German news outlet.
According to Der Spiegel, the leaked data appears current and active. Investigators found:
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WhatsApp and Signal accounts tied to the same leaked phone numbers.
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Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, and even fitness apps linked to these identities.
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Passwords reused across services, some of which were found in over 20 separate breaches.
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A photo tied to Hegseth’s WhatsApp profile that facial recognition software confirmed belonged to the current Secretary of Defense.
More from Der Spiegel:
It was particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover Hegseth’s mobile number and email address. They turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment.
DER SPIEGEL sent the provider a link to Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile and received a Gmail address and a mobile phone number in return, in addition to other information. A search of leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks. Using publicly available information, it was possible to verify that the email address was used just a few days ago.
The mobile number provided, meanwhile, led to a WhatsApp account that Hegseth apparently only recently deleted. The profile photo showed a shirtless Hegseth in a baseball cap and necklace. Comparisons with other photos of the U.S. secretary of defense using facial recognition software were able to confirm that the photo on the WhatsApp profile was indeed Hegseth.
Waltz’s mobile number and email address could be found using the same service provider. The mobile phone number could even be found using a people search engine popular in the U.S. DER SPIEGEL reporters were also able to find several passwords for Waltz’s email address in leaked databases. The information also led to Waltz’s profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal.
National Intelligence Director Gabbard was seemingly more careful with her data than her two male colleagues. She apparently had her own data blocked in the commercial contact search engines that contained the data of Hegseth and Waltz. But her email address was to be found on WikiLeaks and Reddit.
Gabbard’s email address is available in more than 10 leaks. One of those also contains a partial telephone number, which, when completed, leads to an active WhatsApp account and a Signal profile.
Now, with Der Spiegel admitting they used hacked data and people search engines to obtain personal contact info—including Signal-linked numbers—of officials like Mike Waltz, a new and disturbing possibility arises.
If Waltz’s compromised number was linked to Signal—and used to access the chat group where national security discussions were taking place—it raises the terrifying scenario that a foreign adversary or Deep State actor could have inserted Jeffrey Goldberg’s number into the conversation.
Donald Ortmann, a specialist in information security told Der Spiegel, “Exposed data from top politicians can be used by hackers to launch convincing phishing attacks and gain access to devices and various services such as email, chat tools and PayPal.”
The post Private Contact Info and Passwords of Trump’s Top Security Officials — Including Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth — Reportedly Found Online via Hacked Data and Search Engines appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.