404 Media Reports TeleMessage App Used By Trump’s National Security Advisor Was Hacked

The independent tech website 404 Media shared a report on Sunday revealing that a hacker breached the app TeleMessage, which provides a modified version of Signal to U.S. government officials, and stole data.

President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, was recently involved in a security scandal after reports showed that he used TeleMessage to share sensitive information. The breaches raise concerns over the use of the app for official communications and national security.

According to 404 Media, TeleMessage, an app designed by an Israeli company that also offers alternatives to WhatsApp and WeChat, does not provide end-to-end encrypted chat logs. An anonymous hacker was able to access archived chats from high-ranking officials, sensitive backend information, and data from the financial institutions, including cryptocurrency company Coinbase.

The tech news site got access to screenshots shared by the hacker. The programmer managed to get names, phone numbers, usernames, and passwords from government officials—and was able to use them to log in to the TeleMessage platform.

“I would say the whole process took about 15-20 minutes,” said the hacker to 404 Media, suggesting also that they could have accessed more data if they wanted to. “It wasn’t much effort at all.”

404 Media explained that the hacker didn’t get access to Waltz’s message, the person responsible for the recent data breach in the U.S. government, called “Signalgate” for the platform’s resemblance to the App Signal, this time.

Last week, a few days after it was revealed that Waltz added reporter Jeffrey Goldberg to a TeleMessage group where officials shared private information about American airstrikes in Yemen, Trump appointed Waltz as ambassador to the United Nations and made Marco Rubio the interim national security adviser.

Experts warn of growing concerns over data management within the Trump administration, including Elon Musk’s DOGE access to the government’s IT systems, and this new report from 404 Media adds to the current distress surrounding the security of official communication platforms.