The White House has opened an investigation following reports of unauthorized access to the personal smartphone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The incident involved hackers reportedly obtaining Wiles’ contact list, then using this information to impersonate her while reaching out to other high-ranking U.S. officials.
According to initial reporting, the attackers utilized artificial intelligence to convincingly mimic Wiles’ voice during phone calls. They also are alleged to have sent text messages from a phone number not associated with Wiles. The investigation, currently ongoing, has yet to confirm if the hackers compromised Wiles’ cloud account, or whether her device was targeted through a more sophisticated cyberattack using government-level surveillance tools.
In response to inquiries, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly emphasized the administration’s serious commitment to cybersecurity for all staff, stating simply that the matter continues to be investigated.
Notably, this marks the second time that Wiles has reportedly been targeted by cyber attackers. In 2024, it was revealed that Iranian-linked hackers succeeded in infiltrating her personal email account. At that time, hackers reportedly accessed sensitive information, including a dossier pertaining to Vice President J.D. Vance, who was then President Trump’s running mate.
This recent incident adds to a series of cybersecurity challenges faced by the Trump administration since assuming office. In March, former senior national security adviser Michael Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a private Signal messaging group consisting of several top administration officials, inadvertently revealing details about a planned U.S. military strike in Yemen.
Further complicating matters, administration officials were found to be using TeleMessage, a modified version of Signal designed to keep archived copies of government messages. TeleMessage itself has since fallen victim to hackers at least twice, publicly exposing private communications between high-level government users.
