Thanks to his infamous habit for using social media platforms to make official presidential statements (and almost daily rants), you’d assume that the password to Donald Trump‘s Twitter account would be extremely secure and impossible to crack. Not so much, apparently.
Last week, Dutch security expert Victor Gevers reportedly gained access to the president’s Twitter account by simply guessing Trump’s password, which was not difficult to do. After only four failed attempts, Gevers hit the jackpot by typing “maga2020!” and soon found himself able to view Trump’s direct messages, post tweets, and change his profile. In fact, the whole thing was so terrifyingly easy to do that Gevers actually panicked and began alerting government officials. Via The Guardian:
So, he tries to warn others. Trump’s campaign team, his family. He sends messages via Twitter asking if someone will call Trump’s attention to the fact that his Twitter account is not safe. He tags the CIA, the White House, the FBI, Twitter themselves. No response.
According to Gever, Trump’s Twitter account eventually activated two-step verification the next day, and it is, of course, mind-boggling that the feature wasn’t already being used to protect the President of the United States’ preferred method of communication. Even more concerning is the fact that this wasn’t the first time that Gever accessed Trump’s account. Along with two other accomplices, Gever correctly deduced Trump’s password back in 2016, and once again, it was jarringly easy to guess: “yourefired.” We’re not security experts, but maybe the president should hire one to pick his passwords from now on. Preferably before someone figures out his new one is “hotivanka19.”
(Via The Guardian)