Federal Authorities Probe Effort to Impersonate WH CoS

HELLFIRE

Usual preface, sharing strictly and soley from a security interest to the exclusion of everything else : https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/federal-authorities-probe-effort-to-impersonate-white-house-chief-of-staff-65da0d59
https://archive.ph/wZyY0 (non-paywall)

… But the messages weren’t from [chief of staff Susie] Wiles—and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the White House are trying to figure out who is behind the effort and what their goal is, according to some of the people. … It is unclear how the impersonator was able to get access to Wiles’s phone contacts, some of the people said. …

Bad enough deepfake is ubiquitious for executive-level BECs and the like, scarey is when it hits the highest levels of government…

Regards

urbanriot

It is unclear how the impersonator was able to get access to Wiles’s phone contacts

The phone in question is her personal cellphone, not her government one

Well that explains one of the questions I had.

I’m always skeptical when I read or hear a news snippet that reports on a phone that was ‘hacked’ considering it could as easily have been her account which synchronizes her contacts or her personal computer. In the past many years I’ve had so many women tell me their ex’s have hacked their phones and there’s no amount of proof I can give them that would show them it’s their account that they had access to.

Rook

From the article:

The calls and text messages also didn’t come from Wiles’s phone number.

I don’t get it. If the texts didn’t come from Wiles’ number, why would members of the government believe it was really her? A simple “let me call you back” would have stopped the impersonation attempt.

And the impersonator asked for a cash transfer? Are they affiliated with a Nigerian Prince or something?

egeezer

HELLFIRE
Gotta laugh at this statement from the WH;

“The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated,” a White House spokeswoman said.

Based on previous history and use of private servers and unsecure apps by government personnel, communications security leaves music to be desired.

Somewhat-Reticent

egeezer music ?

HELLFIRE

Go for the full thing…

/snark

Regards