The Washington Post reported that it used Gmail to cite documents and three unnamed government officials, including Michael Security Advisor, the top national security advisor, Michael Security Advisor.
The report follows last week’s news, with cabinet-level officials, including the Secretary of Defense, discussing a highly sensitive war plan in a signal group chat that mistakenly includes the Atlantic editor-in-chief.
According to the Washington Post, Waltz’s aides used the consumer version of Gmail, which has not been cleared for government use, to discuss “very technical conversations with colleagues from other government agencies, including sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems associated with ongoing conflicts.”
Regarding the national security adviser himself, Waltz had “non-sensitive but potentially exploitable information” sent to his personal Gmail account, including schedules and working documents, the report said officials said.
According to the post, officials described the use of national security advisors’ personal Gmail accounts as information about “problematic processing.”
A White House spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the report.
Hackers, including those supported by the state, frequently target the personal Gmail accounts of government officials carrying out phishing attacks, obtain and steal information. In 2019, Microsoft discovered that Iran-backed hackers were targeting individual email accounts related to Trump’s 2020 presidential election. Security researchers later discovered evidence that China was targeting personal accounts of Biden’s election staff during the 2020 election.
In 2012, former CIA chief David Petraus was found to use his shared Gmail account to share his draft message with his biographer. Petraeus escaped prison after pleading guilty to inappropriately holding highly sensitive information in the eight notebooks he gave to the biographer.
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