Trump’s Twitter account hacked after president used ‘maga2020!’ as password, security researcher claims
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An ethical hacker says he got access to Donald Trump’s Twitter account after guessing that his password was “maga2020!”.
It only took the hacker five attempts to guess the president’s password," he said.
Victor Gevers, a security expert, had access to the president’s direct messages, could change his profile, and tweet, according to de Volkskrant, which reported that it had seen screenshots from the president’s account.
Gevers alerted Mr Trump and US governmental services about the breach, and was then contacted by the Secret Service.
Mr Trump did not reply to an email sent to him by Gevers advising him to choose a more secure password.
The president’s account has reportedly been made more secure.
It had previously not had two-step authentication activated for the account, which requires that a login be verified via access to another personal device such as a physical security key or authenticator app on another computer.
Gevers was one of three hackers who accessed president Trump’s account in 2016, when the accounts password was reportedly “yourefired”.
“That we would succeed in doing it again so soon, was not planned,” he told de Volkskrant.
“I expected to be blocked after four failed attempts. Or at least would be asked to provide additional information.”
The hacker was shocked that it was possible for him to so easily access the president’s account.
“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?” he said.
The Independent has reached out to Twitter for comment, and Gevers for verification of his claim.
This is not the first time that high-profile Twitter accounts have been compromised.
In July this year, a cryptocurrency scam that targeted several high-profile users, including Elon Musk and Bill Gates as well as Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Kanye West.
Scammers were able to take control of users' accounts and ask for users to send $1,000 to a Bitcoin account with the promise that their deposit would be doubled in return.
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