U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has made significant tech blunders this year. The issue began when Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, reported being mistakenly added to a Signal group chat by U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. This chat included high-ranking government officials discussing detailed attack plans on the Houthis in Yemen.
Typically, tech mishaps might involve accidental social media likes, but here, top-secret military plans were shared on a commercial messaging app with unauthorized recipients. Further complications arose when The New York Times reported that Hegseth shared information about Yemen attacks in another Signal chat that included his lawyer, wife, and brother, none of whom had clearance for such information.
These failures highlight severe security lapses, as involving a journalist in military planning was unintended. Similar incidents have previously placed governments in delicate situations.
The fitness app Strava presents another privacy challenge. It allows users to share exercise logs publicly. In 2018, Strava published a global heat map showing user activity, inadvertently revealing military base locations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq due to limited local app use. Public profiles may expose service members’ identities at such bases.
Venmo, a peer-to-peer payment app, also defaults to public transaction sharing. In 2021, BuzzFeed News reporters quickly located President Joe Biden’s Venmo account, uncovering networks associated with his administration. Even private accounts can have visible friends lists, prompting caution among officials. Reporters similarly discovered accounts of Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, and others.
Encryption can’t always mitigate human error. Carles Puigdemont, former Catalonia president, experienced this when Spanish media captured texts from his ally Toni Comín during a public event. An exposed conversation showed Puigdemont expressing doubts about Catalonia’s independence efforts, though he later clarified his commitment via social media.
Despite encryption measures, vigilance is necessary when handling sensitive information, especially in public or when dealing with sensitive political contexts.
