A security researcher claims he hacked President Donald Trump’s Twitter account earlier this month, guessing that his password was “maga2020!” and possibly posting a tweet where Trump appeared to take a satirical article seriously. Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant and magazine Vrij Nederland reported the news earlier citing screenshots and interviews with the researcher, Victor Gevers.
The Dutch researcher reportedly tried to alert Trump, his campaign team, the U.S government, and multiple other agencies about the vulnerability and claims he was eventually contacted a few days later by Secret Service officials in the Netherlands. According to de Volkskrant’s report, the president’s account was later secured and two-factor authentication added.
DutchTwitter didn’t specify exactly what security measures had been implemented for Trump’s account. The company began requiring strong passwords and seriously encouraging two-factor security in September following a breach of several high-profile accounts, but it’s theoretically possible that the Trump campaign disabled that additional measure. Ethical Hacker Logs into Trump’s Twitter Account (de Volkskrant)
Vrij Nederland also suggests that Gevers was responsible for a strange tweet sent by Trump on October 16th. The tweet cited the satirical publication The Babylon Bee in an apparently serious capacity. Gevers apparently wouldn’t confirm this to Vrij Nederland, but he said that if he had, then “Trump will need to either admit to never having read the Babylon Bee article and posting this bullshit tweet, OR he will need to acknowledge that someone else posted the tweet.”
Remarkably, it wasn’t the first time Gevers has gained access to the president’s Twitter account. In 2016 he and two others guessed Trump’s password and got into his account.
