Subj : When attack plans go mobile To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Mon May 05 2025 10:15:08 When attack plans go mobile Date: Mon, 05 May 2025 09:01:43 +0000 Description: Former FBI operative Eric O'Neill breaks down the recent Signal Gate controversy and discusses where we go from here. FULL STORY ====================================================================== The recent controversy known as Signal-Gate has exposed a glaring truth: even the highest-ranking national security officials sometimes behave like everyday people scrambling through a group chat. In this case, top Trump administration figures unwittingly invited The Atlantics editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal thread discussing a live military operation in Yemen. Details ranged from takeoff times for F-18 strikes to surveillance data on key Houthi targets. By any traditional measure, this is precisely the type of information meant for restricted channelsand absolutely off-limits to random add-ins. Administration leaders insisted that the conversationdespite its clear operational valuewas never formally classified. If the Secretary of Defense says its unclassified, so be it. But for those of us whove worked in military or intelligence operations, thats a semantic sidestep, not a legitimate defense. Revealing real-time strike data isnt just a security lapse; it could easily compromise missions and endanger lives. Encryption on Signal might protect messages from hackers, but it offers no defense against carelessnesslike adding the wrong person to a conversation. Jeffrey Goldberg, the accidental observer of this unfolding operation, says he originally assumed the messages were fake. A hoax or maybe a foreign intelligence plant. But then the details in the chat began to line up with real-world airstrikes. What started as disbelief gave way to concernand yet, Goldberg stayed in the thread for days before bowing out. Critics say he shouldve left immediately. Others argue he was within his rights to confirm what was happening before acting. Legally, he likely did nothing wrong. He didnt sneak in. He didnt steal access. He simply opened an invitation that should never have arrived. But ethically, the waters murkier. If you believe youre witnessing a potential breach in real time, do you alert someone? Or do you wait it out and report when the story is whole? Deeper problems The deeper problem here isnt just Goldbergs decision-making, or even the apparent nonchalance of senior officials discussing war like weekend logistics. Its a familiar pattern in the United States: a kind of bipartisan amnesia when it comes to accountability for mishandling sensitive information. Before Signal-Gate there was the controversy behind Hillary Clintons private email server. Clinton, a former secretary of state, infamously used personal email for official business, with federal agencies ultimately finding that hundreds of her emails contained information that should have been deemed classified. While her actions caused a political firestorm, she was never prosecuted. The broader pattern repeats across presidencies and party lines: from Donald Trumps boxes of documents in Mar-a-Lago to Joe Bidens classified files in a Delaware garage parked next to his corvette. Weve seen it alltop-secret records stored in bathrooms, basements, and glove compartments. And through it all, one thing remains consistent: no one goes to jail. We tell ourselves that classification matters. That secrecy protects lives. That mishandling classified information is serious. But when violations occur at the highest levels, we treat them like PR problems instead of national security failures. Federal employees have been fired or prosecuted for far less than whats now become routine for political leaders. And in this case, there was no dark-web intrusion or zero-day exploit. Just a group chat. Just one mistaken invite. Thats all it took to put the details of a live military operation into the hands of a journalist. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was reportedly posting blow-by-blow updates: drone deployments, missile launch schedules, surveillance feeds. If the Houthis had gained access to this chateven hours before the first strikethe outcome couldve endangered lives or compromised the operation. That data should have never seen the light of day, let alone appeared on a consumer messaging platform. Its the kind of information youd expect locked down in a SCIFwhere digital devices are banned, access is tightly controlled, and no one accidentally adds a reporter to the call sheet. Heroes and villains Signal, for what its worth, isnt the villain here. The app boasts strong end-to-end encryption and has even been endorsed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISAs 2024 guidance specifically lauded end-to-end messaging apps like Signal for highly targeted officials, emphasizing that no single tool is foolproof but that strong encryption can significantly mitigate threats. Yet the meltdown here wasnt about hackingit was about a reckless group chat invitation. If even the most advanced secure platforms cant guard against user errors, do we have any hope of fully protecting sensitive data? This is not just a government issue. Corporate America is just as guilty of letting convenience trump security. Financial data gets sent over Slack. Trade secrets get texted instead of encrypted. Confidential reports accidentally go to the wrong Steve in Gmail. Weve built a culture that prizes speed over caution, where just shoot me a quick note is the normeven when it involves details that could cost companies millions or, in the case of Signal-Gate, risk a classified operation. At the end of the day, no one in this saga is likely to be prosecuted. The White House swiftly brushed off accusations, claiming no official classification was assigned, and the Yemen strike itself was an outstanding success. Jeffrey Goldbergs slow departure from the chat may raise eyebrows, but his decision to document it all likely remains protected journalism. The entire drama serves as a reminder that humans, no matter their rank, are prone to careless oversights when it comes to handling precious information. If we want stricter accountability, we need more than sporadic outrage. We need consistency in enforcing rules and a cultural shift that values caution over convenience. Its easy to point fingers, but the next data breachbe it from a top official or a small-town entrepreneurcould be just one careless invite away. Signal-Gate might become a footnote in the broader saga of national security mishaps, but it leaves us with one unassailable truth: if even the national-security leadership of the worlds most powerful country cant secure a chat, the rest of us need to double-check before we hit send. Signal is one of the best encrypted messaging apps for Android - see more . This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. 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