Hacker ‘logs into Donald Trump’s Twitter account by guessing his password was MAGA2020!’

Donald Trump’s Twitter was hacked, prosecutors have said
AFP via Getty Images
Robert Dex @RobDexES16 December 2020

A hacker successfully logged in to Donald Trump's Twitter account by guessing his password - “MAGA2020!,” Dutch prosecutors have said.

The prosecutors said they will not be punishing Victor Gevers because he was acting "ethically".

It comes after Mr Gevers shared what he said were screenshots of the back end of the US President’s account on October 22, during the final stages of the US election.

The White House at the time denied it had been hacked while Twitter said it had no evidence of it.

In a statement following the latest developments, the social media firm said: "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."

Mr Gevers has been discovering security flaws in software and websites for 22 years. He said he had been conducting a semi-regular sweep of the Twitter accounts of high-profile US election candidates when he managed to guess Mr Trump's password.

He said he was happy that he would not be punished for the hack, adding: “This is not just about my work but all volunteers who look for vulnerabilities in the internet.”

Dutch police said: "The hacker released the login himself.

"He later stated to police that he had investigated the strength of the password because there were major interests involved if this Twitter account could be taken over so shortly before the presidential election."

They had sent the US authorities their findings, they added.

Mr Gevers had told officers he had substantially more evidence of the "hack".

In theory, he would have been able to see all the president's data, including private messages and photographs.

The president's account, which has 89 million followers, is now secure.

Earlier this year, Mr Gevers also claimed he and other security researchers had logged in to Mr Trump's Twitter account in 2016 using a password - "yourefired" - linked to another of his social-network accounts in a previous data breach.

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