Donald Trump Had His Twitter Account Hacked
Uploaded on 2020-11-26 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW
Recently, a well-known Dutch cyber investigator claims to have gained access to Donald Trump's Twitter account with the password 'MAGA2020!'Dutch police have questioned the security researcher, who said he successfully logged into the US president's Twitter account by guessing his password. The researcher, named as Victor Gevers, had access to Trump’s personal messages, could post tweets in his name and change his profile. Gevers took screenshots when he had access to Trump’s account.
The White House denied it had happened and Twitter said it had no evidence of a hack. However, Mr Gevers has now revealed more information to back up his claims.
As part of the police interrogation, he has revealed for the first time that he had substantially more evidence of the "hack" than he had previously released. He did not reveal exactly what information he had, but by logging in to somebody's Twitter account someone would in theory be able to:
- See and send private messages
- See tweets that the user had privately bookmarked
- Gain access information such as how many people the account holder had blocked
- Download an archive of all the user's data, including photos and messages.
Allegedly gaining access to Trump’s Twitter meant Gevers was suddenly able to connect with 87 million users, the number of Trump’s followers. “I expected to be blocked after four failed attempts. Or at least would be asked to provide additional information,” Gevers told De Volkstrant newspaper.
Police would first prove that the hack happened and if prosecutors consider Mr Gevers' actions to be illegal he could face up to four years in prison.
Mr Gevers says he was doing a semi-regular sweep of the Twitter accounts of high-profile US election candidates on 16 October when he guessed President Trump's password. He did not post any tweets or change any settings, but said he took screenshots of some parts of the president's account. He said he had spent days trying to contact the Trump campaign to warn them about their security, which was lacking extra safeguards like two-factor authentication, before going to the press.
Two-factor authentication is a widely-used security system that links a phone app or number to an account, to add an extra step to the process of logging in. The US president's account is apparently now secure.
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