Signalgate Part Deaux

rivergator · Apr 25, 2025 at 6:56 AM

It’s really pretty amazing. His phone number was easily available

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number, the one used in a recent Signal chat, was easily accessible on the internet and public apps as recently as March, potentially exposing national security secrets to foreign adversaries.

The phone number could be found in a variety of places, including WhatsApp, Facebook and a fantasy sports site. It was the same number through which the defense secretary, using the Signal commercial messaging app, disclosed flight data for American strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen.

Cybersecurity analysts said an American defense secretary’s communications device would usually be among the most protected national security assets.

“There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,” Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview. “He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”
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Hegseth’s Personal Phone Use Created Vulnerabilities, Analysts Say

ValdostaGatorFan · Apr 25, 2025 at 8:00 AM

rivergator said: ↑

“There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,” Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview. “He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”
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From the other Signal thread...

ValdostaGatorFan said: ↑

This crossed my mind...

Even if the phones they used were secure...
Even if no one exploited a bug in Signal...
Even if end to end encryption was used and no one broke the encryption...

The fact that a journalist was in the thread is a big red flag seeing that phone spyware like NSO Group's Pegasus is often used by governments to spy on journalists. Journalists are one of the biggest targets out there. If the journalist had malware on his phone, bad guys could read the texts after they were decrypted and displayed on the journalist's phone, completely negating how hardened the rest of the phones were and how secure the software was.
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All of this stinks. How is this much different than the US Navy ship that had an unapproved Starlink setup on board? While it looks like that install was used for checking sports scores and streaming movies, this line was used to access Signal, and we've seen what a mess that has created.

A Command Senior Chief was court martialed and had her rank reduced because of the unapproved internet link. What happens to Hegseth because of his unapproved internet link?

gator_jo · Apr 25, 2025 at 8:06 AM

rivergator said: ↑

It’s really pretty amazing. His phone number was easily available

Hegseth’s Personal Phone Use Created Vulnerabilities, Analysts Say
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"Hello, Pete? This is Eric. Dad said he wants to bomb Ukraine. You know, really give 'em the business. Yes, right away. I'll have Lara or Jared text you with the exact targets in a few minutes. Do I want to go out for drinks later? Sure. Ya, I can bring the funnel."

rivergator · Apr 25, 2025 at 12:13 PM

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff departed his post Thursday, he said, the latest twist in an extended period of turmoil at the Pentagon that has included infighting among Hegseth’s advisers, the firing of at least three political appointees and deepening scrutiny of the secretary’s stewardship of the government’s largest agency.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/24/hegseth-joe-kasper/

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