Secret Service mobile device security fell short during protective operations, according to a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report that found agents used personal phones and unsecured government devices. The report says those habits exposed leaders and agents to cyber risk during work tied to protective events in the US and overseas.
The review covered Secret Service GFE mobile device records from October 2022 through May 2025. Investigators found more than 15,000 instances among 4.8 million calls in which employees sent and received calls from colleagues’ personal phones while working protective events.
Homeland Security GFE policy
Homeland Security policy only allows Secret Service employees to use GFE devices for official business. The report says the devices they were issued lacked the capabilities they needed to do the job, which pushed some employees toward personal phones even while on mission.
That gap was not just administrative. The inspector general said the mobile devices did not have sufficient security to ensure real-time, continuous protection from cyberattacks by foreign adversaries or individuals.
Personal phones and mission data
Investigators also examined travel vouchers for Secret Service employees who travelled internationally between October 2022 and April 2025. The review found 30 employees who claimed reimbursement for using personal phones for official government business.
Of the 24 employees interviewed, 23 said they needed to use their personal cell phones during nearly every foreign assignment. Employees also used personal mobile devices as hotspots for government-issued laptops and to reach websites blocked on GFE phones.
Butler, Pennsylvania review
The review was ordered after the 2024 assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The report says vulnerable apps on the government-furnished mobile devices could let malicious actors conduct surveillance, track locations, or record communications.
It also warns that a jailbroken phone, a device infected with malicious code, or one that is not up to date on security software could let an adversary intercept device communication. The report’s bottom line is blunt: leaders’ and agents’ lives were put at risk.
The report does not spell out what specific security upgrades or policy changes the Secret Service will make next, so the practical question for employees is whether the agency will tighten GFE access fast enough to keep personal phones out of protective work.
