Revealed: Trump spy chief used the same weak passwords on several accounts for years
Formula One F1 - Miami Grand Prix - Miami International Autodrome, Miami, Florida, United States - May 3, 2025 Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence and FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem after qualifying
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is said to have used the same password, which was deemed "easily cracked," for several online accounts for a number of years, WIRED reported Tuesday.
A review of leaked data by WIRED indicated that Gabbard used this password on multiple email addresses and online accounts during her time in Congress, from 2013 to 2021.
According to the report, Gabbard’s passwords were reviewed using “databases of material leaked online created by the open-source intelligence firms District4Labs and Constella Intelligence.”
READ MORE: 'Massive deception': Trump voters 'feel betrayed' after ICE detains son
The same password used for an email account linked to Gabbard's personal website was also found to be the password for her Gmail account (records from 2019), as well as her Dropbox and LinkedIn accounts (records from 2012) associated with that email address, per the report.
The word "shraddha" was part of the password for all the affected accounts and seems to have personal importance for Gabbard, the report said.
This significance may stem from her reported initiation into the Science of Identity Foundation, a group tied to her reported birth into the Hare Krishna movement and accused by former members of being a cult. The Wall Street Journal reported that former adherents believe Gabbard may have been given the name "Shraddha Dasi" when she allegedly joined the group.
“The data breaches you’re referring to occurred almost 10 years ago, and the passwords have changed multiple times since," a spokesperson for Gabbard told WIRED.
READ MORE: 'It’s mind-blowing': Scientists puzzled by Trump team’s $500 million bet on old technology
In March, Gabbard was involved in a Signal group chat leak that drew attention when The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to a conversation among top Trump officials, including Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing military operations in Yemen.
AlterNet reached out to Gabbard's office for comment.
