Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) is urging the Justice Department to probe the risks linked to Trump administration officials using a messaging app called Telemessage, which has recently been compromised.
Wyden sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondy, expressing concerns about the “serious” national security threats posed by Telemessage. He highlighted that federal contractors supplied “dangerously unstable communications software,” pointing fingers at the White House and other federal entities.
Democrats criticized the use of Telemessage, an Israeli company’s service, led by former national security adviser Mike Waltz, stating that it was “recklessly trusted.” They claim the app is not the secure tool advertised, but rather a “poorly designed” system that poses significant security risks due to its archiving capabilities.
Wyden noted that a security researcher found that the app sends unencrypted copies of all messages to its servers. This means any message can be accessed by anyone within the company or those with server access, which is concerning, to say the least.
He pointed out that the app has faced multiple hacks lately, indicating it is unsafe.
According to the tech site 404 Media, hackers recently leveraged a vulnerability in Telemessage, gaining access to direct messages and group chats.
Waltz lost his national security position last week amidst controversy over his use of the app and his creation of a group to exchange updates regarding U.S. assaults on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. This situation intensified after images from a cabinet meeting surfaced, showing Waltz using Telemessage to chat with officials, including Vice President Vance and National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard.
Concerns about national security and the communications platforms used by the administration heightened further when it was revealed that hackers had accessed Telemessage, prompting the app to halt its services temporarily “out of an abundance of caution,” as reported by Reuters.
Wyden noted in his letter that the Telemessage Archiver is a modified version of a signal that mimics its counterpart and can communicate with other signal users. He suggested that the White House adopted this app following this year’s “SignalGate” incident.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, stated that Waltz had created a signal group chat with other officials and configured settings to automatically delete messages after a few weeks. After a reminder about federal record-keeping laws, Wyden suggested the White House may have “equipped” the Telemessage app.
Wyden has called on the DOJ to look into misleading statements made to the federal government about the app’s security, encryption capabilities, and hacking issues.
He also urged an investigation into any potential threats posed by the app, particularly assessing whether the company’s foreign employees can access government users’ messages, and if U.S. communications have been shared with foreign governments, particularly Israel.
In his words, it’s still uncertain if the system’s design stems from incompetence by foreign companies run by former intelligence personnel, or if it’s a backdoor scheme aimed at facilitating intelligence retrieval. Regardless, Wyden stressed that the app’s risky design should have been identified before it was ever installed on the devices of the president’s national security adviser and possibly other senior officials.
Oka reached out to the DOJ for a response.
