Signalgate solved? Reports claim accidental contact mix-up

Infosec in Brief How did journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s phone number end up in a Signal group chat? According to The Guardian, US national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally saved it into the contact file of a campaign staffer who later took a job at the US National Security Council official. A Sunday report, citing sources familiar with a White House investigation into the matter, claims that during the 2024 US election campaign Goldberg emailed the Trump campaign with questions for a story. That email reached campaign staffer Brian Hughes, who apparently wanted Waltz – then a surrogate spokesperson for the Trump campaign – to be aware of Goldberg’s inquiries so he could offer informed comment if a story appeared. Hughes therefore sent Goldberg’s inquiry, which included the journalist’s phone number, to Waltz. Waltz then reportedly saved Goldberg’s phone number into his contact file for Hughes. Several months after that exchange, Hughes was working at the National Security Council and Waltz decided to include him in the now-infamous “Houthi PC small group” Signal group he used to discuss a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. As a phone number he’d saved for Hughes was actually Goldberg’s phone number, the journalist was invited to the group. The rest is history: Goldberg reported that Trump administration officials used Signal instead of the US government’s own secure comms channels, putting sensitive info at risk and perhaps violating government records-keeping r...