Mike Waltz, a former national security adviser to Trump, was caught sending texts during a meeting—not through Signal, but via a cheap imitation called TM SGNL. This turned out to be a grave mistake. The app unbeknownst to users, automatically uploads every message to a company archive. A hacker subsequently discovered that archive, which was openly accessible online with barely any effort required.
The site employed an outdated security technique (MD5) that has been deemed insecure since the early 2000s, along with obsolete technology. One link provided the hacker access to a complete memory dump from the server, revealing usernames, passwords, chat logs, and even encryption keys. In just 15 minutes, they managed to penetrate a U.S. Customs account and access private conversations on Coinbase. Had Waltz sent a message at an inopportune time, his texts could have been among the exposed material—completely unencrypted. Source: WIRED