NIN Web Desk : (Dr subhrojyoti chattopadhyay); Germany’s Der Spiegel said national security advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are among those affected. The outlet reported that phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the officials were found on the internet by its staff after they “used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web.” “Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data”. Der Spiegel reported. “There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”
The outlet, citing publicly available information, claimed an email address linked to Hegseth was in use just a few days ago. It was said WhatsApp and Signal accounts purportedly belonging to Waltz appear to have been deactivated after it reached out to both accounts for comment.
Der Spiegel reported that its staff also found private Google accounts linked to Gabbard in use as recently as two weeks ago. A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told Media on Thursday that “this occurred almost 10 years ago, and the platforms mentioned haven’t been used in years and the passwords have changed multiple times.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly also told the Media “Passwords and accounts associated with the reported leaks are nearly a decade old, and passwords have long been changed.”
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