TECH NEWS – Susie Wiles’s private phone has reportedly been hacked. Who knows what the hackers could do with the information?

Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, reportedly had her personal phone hacked. The hacker has access to many contacts, including high-ranking officials. According to the Wall Street Journal, a federal investigation has been launched. However, there is still no confirmation as to how the phone’s data ended up in unauthorized hands. Shortly after gaining access to the White House chief of staff’s phone, the hackers used artificial intelligence to impersonate Wiles and send voice and text messages to multiple contacts from a different number.

The targets only became suspicious when the hackers suggested continuing the conversation on another platform (e.g., Telegram). That’s when Wiles’s contacts realized something was wrong. Regarding the incident, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the following statement to CBS News: “The FBI takes all threats against the president, his staff, and our cybersecurity very seriously. Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to communicate securely to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority,” Patel said.

Regarding the compromise of Wiles’s phone, TechCrunch asked White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly if the cloud logs associated with the chief of staff’s device had been compromised and if his phone had been part of a more sophisticated, government-wide spyware attack. Unfortunately, the publication received no substantive response, suggesting that the investigation is ongoing.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that we hear from the US government that they would also prefer to use encrypted communications. One example is the software Signal. The details are not yet known, but either a sophisticated technological attack was carried out or a vulnerability in the shield was found. In the latter case, a cloud vulnerability may have allowed the attackers to sneak through the gate.

The consequences of this are unclear, but if the FBI is investigating, it must be a serious matter.

Source: WCCFTech, WSJ, TechCrunch