Why You Shouldn't Use Personal Messaging or Email Apps for Business

Over the weekend, we received word that Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee in Congress, had sent a letter to the White House regarding the use of a private email account by presidential advisor Ivanka Trump to conduct official business. The letter also asked about the use of the WhatsApp messaging app by advisor Jared Kushner to conduct sensitive diplomatic communications with people outside the U.S. According to multiple news reports, the recipient of some of Kushner’s messages was Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the same Saudi official who ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The fact that Kushner uses Facebook’s WhatsApp to communicate official business is giving security experts within the government and elsewhere nightmares. Why? First of all, WhatsApp messages aren’t part of the official White House messaging infrastructure, and that means that they aren’t being preserved as required by the Presidential Records Act. Kushner’s lawyer has told the committee that Kushner sends screen shots of the messages to his official White House email, but as a number of officials have noted, that doesn’t preserve the entire communication.