Dutchman hacks Trump’s Twitter account: ‘His password was maga2020!’

The Dutch are an ethical hacker Victor Gevers, which has already reported many thousands of data breaches and other vulnerabilities on the internet. It took him seven attempts to guess the password of the American president, he argues against Vrij Nederland.

“I thought ‘oh god’ when I logged in”, Gevers tells RTL News. “I just don’t want me to be able to get in, especially not with such an important account.”

Account hacked

The evidence that Gevers had access to Trump’s Twitter account has been viewed by RTL Nieuws and Vrij Nederland. According to Gevers, Trump had also not set up extra security, such as the code that you sometimes have to enter after logging in – also two-step verification mentioned.

Gevers has not tweeted or viewed his private messages on behalf of Trump, but could have done both. As an ethical hacker, he warns individuals or organizations about vulnerabilities in the hope of remedying them. Gevers is known and loved within the Dutch hacker world for his ethical working method.

‘Immense consequences’

Correspondent Erik Mouthaan says Trump’s Twitter account is his primary means of communication. The White House has said that all tweets count as official statements by the president. Ministries are closely monitoring the account because often policies have to be made based on Trump’s thoughts. For example, he announced a ban on transgender people via Twitter. in the military, rather than a press release or bill. “

“Twitter is where Trump ventes his anger and pride, you really get a sense of how he feels moment to moment. If a malicious party were to hijack the account just before the election, it could have immense consequences for the integrity of the election. and the security of the land. “

Secret Service

Trump may not have had two-step verification because his campaign team must also have access to his Twitter account. Such extra security makes it more difficult to share an account with others. Gevers has reached out to the United States Secret Service via-via and reported the leak.

It is not the first time that Gevers had access to Trump’s Twitter account. In 2016, he managed to gain access with two friends. At the time, the password was ‘yourefired’, which Gevers and his two hacker friends found among the leaked LinkedIn passwords.

Twitter has been asked for a response, but has not responded.

Advice

Trump has since changed his password and turned on two-step verification. Gevers applauds that: “Please folks, enable two-step verification,” he says. “Even if you use a bad password, such as ‘maga2020!’, You still remain protected against these kinds of simple attacks.”