Trump chief of staff's personal phone 'compromised'

A top US official may have had his personal smartphone compromised by hackers or a foreign government, it has been claimed.

John Kelly, the US chief of staff, took his phone to White House tech support staff in the summer, complaining that it hadn't working properly for several months, Politico reports.

The IT team then discovered a potential breach in the device, which may date back to as late as December 2016, leading to concerns sensitive information may have been disclosed to a third party, such as criminal hackers or a foreign state.

A White House spokesman told Politico Kelly hadn't used his personal device very much since joining the Trump administration in January this year. However, he is no longer in the possession of the device, the spokesman said.

Kelly's travel schedule during 2016 is now under review, presumably in an effort to determine where and when the device was compromised, something that's currently a mystery.

According to government officials cited by Politico, it's also unclear "what data might have been accessed [on the device], if any".

This is the second alleged data leak affecting the US government revealed in the past 24 hours. Last night, reports also emerged of a potential major security breach at the NSA, in which hacking tools may have been stolen by cyber criminals or a foreign state.

The White House is also currently embroiled in another potential data security scandal involving several high-ranking members of staff, who have allegedly been using their personal emails to conduct official government business.