A major security scandal has rocked the U.S. government after hackers infiltrated TeleMessage, an Israeli-made application used for archiving official communications. The breach has exposed sensitive data from over 60 senior American officials, including personnel from the State Department, the Secret Service, and the White House.
Among those directly affected is National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has reportedly been dismissed from his position after the revelations. According to Reuters, hackers exploited a critical system vulnerability to gain access to the TeleMessage server, particularly through a file called “heapdump,” which stored unencrypted login credentials and archived messages.
Wired reports that the breach also revealed personal phone numbers of civilians who had contacted government officials for urgent or professional matters.
The situation escalated further when Waltz accidentally added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal group where sensitive military plans—allegedly related to strikes against the Houthis in Yemen—were being discussed. Shortly thereafter, a photo circulated showing Waltz using TeleMessage during a cabinet meeting, just days before the app’s security breach was publicly exposed.
While the White House has acknowledged the incident, it has not provided further details. Critics are calling for a full investigation into systemic cybersecurity flaws within the Trump administration. The scandal is likely to prompt broader reviews of how digital security is managed in official U.S. communications.
