Signal is a pretty secure app — apparently, so much so that the Trump administration is discussing looming US military action there.

Earlier this week, news emerged that senior officials from the Trump administration accidentally disclosed war plans in a messaging group that included a journalist just before the U.S. launched an attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.

The journalist in question is Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, which provided a first-hand account in a report for the news outlet.

Goldberg reported that on March 13, he was unexpectedly invited to an encrypted chat group on the Signal messaging app called the “Houthi PC small group,” with accounts appearing to represent Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials.

“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” said National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes.

And while Signal is a great pick if you value the privacy of your chats, it’s not recommended for classified conversations. A former White House official described the incident as “unbelievable,” adding that “these guys all have traveling security details to set up secure comms for them, wherever they are.”

The former White House official also said that it’s likely the people who were in the Signal group chat were using their personal devices because there’s a good chance the app can’t be downloaded onto official federal devices.

The problem is “their personal phones are all hackable, and it’s highly likely that foreign intelligence services are sitting on their phones watching them type the (stuff) out,” the former White House official noted.

“People can link Signal messaging to a desktop application. This means that Signal data is being delivered to potentially multiple desktop and laptop computers where it isn’t being stored in a phone’s secure enclave. That data is then at risk from commodity malware on the system,” explained Jacob Williams, a former hacker at the NSA and vice president of research and development at cybersecurity consulting firm Hunter Strategy.