The government is investigating incidents in recent weeks in which elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures received messages from someone pretending to be Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump's chief of staff.
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Trump said Wiles is “a great woman” and “can handle it.” A White House official confirmed the investigation Friday and said the White House takes the cybersecurity of its staff seriously. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that senators, governors, business leaders and others began receiving text messages and phone calls from someone who appeared to have accessed Wiles' personal cellphone contacts. The messages and calls did not come from Susie Wiles's own number, the report said.
According to the report, some of those who received phone calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles', which may have been created using artificial intelligence. Others received text messages that they initially believed were from official White House requests, but some noticed that the tone of the messages did not match Wiles'.
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The FBI warned this month, via public notice, of a “ malicious text and voicemail campaign ” in which unknown “ malicious actors ” are impersonating high-ranking US government officials .
According to the FBI, this scheme relies on text messages and voice messages created with artificial intelligence and allegedly originating from top US government officials, with the aim of deceiving other government officials, as well as associates and contacts of the victims.
It's unclear how someone gained access to Wiles' phone, but the breach is the latest in a string of security incidents involving Trump associates. Last year, Iran hacked into the Trump campaign, resulting in the theft and distribution of sensitive internal documents, including a dossier on Vice President J.D. Vancethat was written before he was selected as Trump's running mate.
Wiles, who served as co-chair of Trump's election campaign before taking a key role in his new administration, has built a strong network of contacts.
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Based on the above, what is emerging is a growing threat to cybersecurity at the political level, especially when high-ranking officials and influential figures such as Susie Wiles are involved. The use of artificial intelligence to imitate voices and the hacking of personal devices show that attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and targeted.
Source: securityweek
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