A Dutch security researcher claims to have gained access to President Trump's Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) last week by guessing his password: "maga2020!".
Victor Gevers, a security researcher at the GDI Foundation and president of the Dutch Vulnerability Disclosure Institute, told TechCrunch that he managed to guess Trump's password and log into account in just five attempts.
According to Gevers, the Twitter account is not protected by two-factor authentication, making the breach even easier.
After gaining access, the Dutch researcher notified US-CERT (a division of CISA) via email . The president's password was changed shortly thereafter.
However, this is the second time Gevers has gained access to Trump's Twitter account.
The first time was in 2016, when he and two other researchers gained access to the President’s account using the password “yourefired,” his catchphrase from the TV show “The Apprentice.” Gevers then reported the incident to local authorities in the Netherlands and made suggestions for how Trump could strengthen his security. One of the passwords he suggested at the time was “maga2020!” Gevers said he “didn’t expect” that password to be used now.
On the other hand, Twitter and the White House deny unauthorized access to the President's Twitter account.
A Twitter spokesperson said: “We have not seen evidence to substantiate this claim. We have implemented precautionary security measures for a specific group of high-profile accounts related to the United States election.”
Twitter said last month it would strengthen security on political candidate accounts and encourage the use of strong passwords as well as implementing two-factor authentication.
Trump's Twitter account is said to be even more secure since he took office, although Twitter has not revealed exactly what this extra protection is. It should be noted, however, that President Trump's account was not affected by the hack July" accounts (e.g. Gates, Musk, Obama, etc.).
Finally, the deputy press secretary in the White House press office, Judd Deere, also denied the claim, saying: “That is not true at all, but we do not comment on the security around the social media President’s.”
