Jump to content

Dutch Ethical Hacker Logs into Trump’s Twitter Account


uk666

Recommended Posts

  • Andr-Tech

Dutch Ethical Hacker Logs into Trump’s Twitter Account

tdt.jpg

A security researcher claims he hacked President Donald Trump’s Twitter account earlier this month, guessing that his password was “maga2020!”

Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant and magazine Vrij Nederland reported the news, citing screenshots and interviews with the researcher, Victor Gevers.

But both Twitter and the White House vigorously denied the claim.

Gevers and two other hackers had successfully breached Trump’s Twitter account in October 2016.
According to its new report, Gevers decided to run a new security test in 2020 by plugging in the old password. 

That password (“yourefired”) didn’t work, but Gevers discovered that Trump didn’t have two-factor authentication enabled, a remarkable weakness for a hugely important account. 

Gevers tries a number of passwords and their variations, including: 'yourefired', '!IWillAmericaGreatAgain!', 'MakeAmericaGreatAgain', 'MakeAmericaGreatAgain!', 'Maga2020', 'Maga2020!' and 'maga2020!'

Gevers said the last attempt - 'maga2020!' - was correct giving him access to Trump's account including all of his direct messages and Twitter history.

Gevers has access to what is perhaps the most important Twitter account in the world and is in a position to send a message to 87 million people, the attentive world press, and government leaders. Gevers: ‘I did think: “Here we go again”.’

Illegal
After all, hacking an account is illegal. If Gevers wants to make it clear that he is acting with good intentions, he will have to proceed responsibly and document his steps. He takes screenshots. 

Then he sends an email to Donald Trump – ‘I still had an old email account of his’ – and sends a copy to the American organisation for digital security. 

He kindly advises Trump to take extra security measures. And perhaps use a somewhat longer password. Gevers even suggests one: !IWillMakeAmericaGreatAgain2020!, and adds instructions for activating two-step verification. ‘But I didn’t get a reply.’

So, he tries to warn others. Trump’s campaign team, his family. He sends messages via Twitter asking if someone will call Trump’s attention to the fact that his Twitter account is not safe. He tags the CIA, the White House, the FBI, Twitter themselves. No response.

Gevers: ‘Then on Saturday, I suddenly saw that two-step verification for the account had been activated.’ Two days later, in the evening, he receives an email from the American Secret Service. ‘Friendly. They were interested in my information. I forwarded everything to them.’ 

On Tuesday they speak digitally. They thank Gevers, telling him that they were unaware of the security leak. 

This still leaves the security researcher with a number of questions: 

  • Why is it possible for someone from a different time zone to log into such an important account?
  • Why doesn’t Twitter demand better passwords?
  • If I can access his account, then foreign nations can do so as well, right? 
  • Why aren’t the persons who are supposed to protect the President informed when someone reports that his account is unsafe?
  • Like 1
Link to comment
16 hours ago, uk666 said:

Why aren’t the persons who are supposed to protect the President informed when someone reports that his account is unsafe?

Because all those people, including vast numbers in the intelligence community, have all either been fired, pi**ed off, cowed into silence, or replaced by halfwits, liars, incompetents, relatives, and thieves by and of the president. It's actually amazing that the FBI  picked up on it given the clown who is in charge of it.

Maz (bluescope)

I am woman, <-- is there an app for that?

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...