The messaging app used by President Trump’s former national security advisor during a Cabinet meeting last week has temporarily suspended operations following reports of a security breach, its parent company announced Monday.
TeleMessage, an encrypted communication platform based on Signal and developed in Israel, was seen open on the phone of then–National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during a Cabinet session last Wednesday. The sighting came under scrutiny, especially in light of Trump’s previous directives discouraging the use of Signal after the “Signalgate” leak incident, when Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a private chat discussing military plans.
In a statement to CNBC, a spokesperson for Smarsh, the company that operates TeleMessage, said, “TeleMessage is investigating a potential security incident. Upon detection, we acted quickly to contain it and engaged an external cybersecurity firm to support our investigation.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, all TeleMessage services have been temporarily suspended,” the spokesperson continued, while noting that other Smarsh services remain fully functional.
