US EditionFBI Says Russian Hackers Compromised Thousands of Signal Accounts Worldwide
Russian intelligence-linked hackers used social engineering to access thousands of Signal accounts globally, targeting officials and journalists, FBI and CISA said in a joint advisory.
- On March 20, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a PSA warning that Russian intelligence services targeted Signal, compromising thousands of accounts worldwide.
- Agencies said the campaign relies on phishing and social engineering to bypass app protections by impersonating support and tricking users into divulging verification codes or linking attacker devices.
- Investigators identified two primary methods: linked-device features abuse and full account takeover after victim actions providing verification codes or PINs, allowing attackers to read messages and impersonate victims.
- Officials warned that compromised accounts enable impersonation and phishing, creating security risks, and urged affected users to report to IC3 or their local FBI Field Offices.
- Echoing allied alerts earlier this month, Dutch intelligence warned that the ongoing campaign targeting Signal and WhatsApp may evolve to include malware, urging continued vigilance.
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Russian hackers targeting US officials and journalists on Signal – have accessed ‘thousands’ of accounts, FBI warns
FBI Director Kash Patel warned Friday that Russia is targeting “high intelligence value” individuals on the encrypted messaging app Signal and “thousands” of accounts have already been compromised.
FBI: Russia targeting ‘high intelligence value’ Americans on Signal
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Friday that Russia’s intelligence services have targeted Americans of “high intelligence value” on private messaging apps in an ongoing phishing campaign. Patel said the targets of Russian hackers include U.S. government officials, military officials, politicians and journalists. “Globally, this effort has resulted in unauthorized access to thousands of individual…
U.S. agencies reported that the purpose of the attacks is to gain control of individual profiles by manipulating their owners and not by breaking the encryption of platforms.
The activity is aimed at prominent individuals, such as current and former US government officials, military personnel, political figures, and journalists.
Patel warns of Russian cyber actors scamming Signal users
FBI Director Kash Patel warned that cyber actors linked to Russian intelligence services were scamming Signal users. Earlier this month, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service along with General Intelligence and Security Service warned of a “large-scale global cyber campaign” targeting government officials and journalists, carried out through the attempted hacking of their Signal messaging accounts. Patel confirmed and warned users…
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