US President’s Twitter Account Hacked; The Ethical Hacker ‘Guessed’ The Password

According to reports by a Dutch media, US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was purportedly hacked, after a Dutch researcher accurately speculated the president’s password: “maga2020!”

De Volkskrant, a Dutch daily morning newspaper revealed, the ethical hacker and security researcher Victor Gevers had been able to access Trump’s direct messages, post tweets in his name and even change his profile. 

A Twitter spokesperson however has denied this hack, in a statement, they stated, “We’ve seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today. We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.” 

Jack Mannino, CEO at nVisium, a Falls Church, Virginia-based application security provider, explains, “A security-savvy team would assume that these controls were important and would likely opt to use a strong password as well as MFA to reduce the likelihood of account takeover attacks. However, in the event users of the account opted for convenience over safety, it is not Twitter’s responsibility to force people to pick strong passwords or to implement the security features they offer to users. Twitter’s job is to offer a secure platform and strong security features, which they do. If people are unable to convince the President to wear a mask during a pandemic, it’s unlikely they could force him to use a strong password.” 

Supposedly gaining access to Trump’s Twitter implied that Gevers was suddenly able to associate with all of Trump’s followers i.e. approximately 87 million users as per De Volkskrant’s story. 

He had attempted multiple times before utilizing the “correct” password, says, “I expected to be blocked after four failed attempts. Or at least would be asked to provide additional information.” 

Gevers revealed to De Volkskrant that President Trump was not utilizing fundamental safety measures, like the multifaceted authentication. 

As indicated by the news report, Gevers frantically reached out to Donald Trump to caution him, which ended up being a rather impossible task. Remarkably though, Gevers along two other Dutch ethical hackers had likewise hacked Trump’s record somewhere four years back.

In those days Trump’s password was “your fired”, which according to VN news, was his ‘catchphrase’ from the reality television show that brought him half the popularity that he has today, before his election, The Apprentice.