Days before we learned about the ‘war plans’ Signal chat, the Pentagon sends a department-wide email warning that Russian hackers are exploiting Signal’s ‘linked devices’ feature.
Russian hackers are breaking into Signal group chats, according to a Pentagon memo obtained by NPR. The memo was sent on March 18—three days after the US bombed Yemen and five days after top Trump officials accidentally included a journalist on a Signal chat group about it.
« A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal messenger application », the memo says. At issue is Signal’s « linked devices » feature, which allows a user to access their account on multiple devices. Russian hackers are reportedly taking advantage of this to add Signal accounts to their own devices and eavesdrop on what should be encrypted conversations. « This allows the group to view every message sent by the unwitting user in real time », says the memo.
The Pentagon memo provides steps to « safeguard your Signal application », and reiterates the government’s Signal policy. It permits the use of Signal for discussions about unclassified information but the app is « NOT approved to process or store nonpublic unclassified information », it says.
