White House information, including Michelle Obama’s passport, leaked this week after a White House contractor’s email account was hacked.
According to NBC News, the emails were sent from the Gmail account of Ian Mellul, a contractor employed as advanced associate at the White House. Correspondences with the White House along with those of his friends and colleagues were leaked. The emails included the First Lady’s passport, detailed schedules and movements of Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton for trips inside and outside of the US, and the social security number and birthdays of some of the staffers.
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A senior intelligence official said the hack was “the most damaging compromise of the security of the President of the United States that I’ve seen in decades, all caused by a careless staffer who compromised information outside government systems merely for convenience.”
The emails were made public by DC Leaks, the same group who printed emails from Colin Powell. The groups is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence. White House press secretary Josh Earnest assured reporters that the hack is being investigated, adding that the hack “should be a wake up call for all of us” when it comes to electronic communication.