The White House has found that its chief of staff, John Kelly, used a breached phone for months, according to a report from Politico.
The suspected hack was discovered after Kelly gave his phone to White House tech support because it wasn’t updating or functioning normally. He reportedly told IT the phone had been having issues for months.
The breach is coming to light now because in September, White House aides produced a memo about the incident. After seeing the document, members of the Trump Administration are reportedly concerned about what data could have been compromised while Kelly was serving as Secretary of Homeland Security, prior to his appointment of chief of staff in July.
Politico reported that a White House representative did not dispute the events described in the memo, but said Kelly had not used that phone often and is using a different phone now. Officials told Politico they are unsure when the breach happened, but it could have been as long ago as December. A spokesperson said Kelly uses his government phone for official communications.
The Trump administration’s disregard for security protocols has been raising concerns among intelligence officials since the election. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and other White House advisers have reportedly been using their personal email for official White House business, and President Trump was criticized for using an unsecured cellphone after the inauguration and for encouraging world leaders to reach him on his personal phone.
[Politico]