Dutch officials say Donald Trump really did protect his Twitter account with MAGA2020! password
- Reference: 1608190025
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/12/17/trump_twitter_hacking/
- Source link:
Back in October, Dutch citizen Victor Gevers [1]claimed to have accessed the President’s Twitter account, @realdonaldtrump, with the password MAGA2020! It was discovered using just his fifth attempt to guess.
Gevers was stunned at how easy to guess the discovery was and, equally amazingly, that there was no apparent additional security behind the account, such as two-factor authentication. Gevers shared screenshots of the user-side of the account with the Dutch press to prove he had gained access and may have used the account access to [2]tweet a link to a satirical website as the President.
Skeptical it would have been that easy to get into such an influential and safeguarded Twitter account with 88 million followers, everyone refused to accept it had happened. The White House denied it with a spokesperson saying: "This is absolutely untrue, but we are not commenting on security measures for the president's social media accounts.”
Twitter also poured cold water on the idea: “We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands," a spokesperson told The Reg . "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."
But in reality...
But now the Dutch authorities reckon it was [3]all true . They investigated the situation and have concluded that things happened exactly as Gevers claimed. At the same time, however, they have announced they will not be pursuing a prosecution because he acted ethically.
Gevers informed the FBI, Twitter, White House, and the CIA about the fact he had broke into the account, and gave tips on how to fix it. They didn’t respond though the next day it was locked down and a few days later, Gevers met up with the US Secret Service in the Netherlands.
"The hacker released the login himself,” Dutch police noted. "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."
After Dutch bloke claims he hacked Trump's Twitter by guessing password, web biz says there's 'no evidence' [4]READ MORE
As a result of his action, Gevers met special circumstances for electronic intrusion, and the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service decided that therefore he is not criminally liable. It helps that Gevers has been a white hat hacker for over 20 years.
Even with the events independently confirmed, there has still been no response from the White House over its security practices, nor from Twitter which must be wondering how it wasn’t even able to tell that its most public account has been wrongly accessed, even when it was told how and when it happened.
And if you thought all that was bad enough, it turns out that this wasn’t the first time Gevers has got into Trump’s twitter account: back in 2016, he pulled off [5]the same feat by typing in the reality TV showman’s famous catchphrase: yourefired .
It’s worth noting there is less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/23/trump_twitter_account_no_mfa/
[2] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1317044556328730625
[3] https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/om-nederlandse-hacker-die-inlogde-op-twitter-account-trump-niet-strafbaar~b9820c07/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/23/trump_twitter_account_no_mfa/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/11/trump_twitter_account_recycled_password/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
He did, though you could argue that his choice of content to comment was a bit childish. If you go through the proper channels to notify all parties involved and nobody acts on it, you are ethically allowed to use the account to prove you have indeed gained access to it. It was crude, but not unethical.
Insanely high IQ
“Nobody gets hacked. To get hacked, you need somebody with 197 IQ and he needs about 15% of your password”
https://www.verdict.co.uk/trump-nobody-gets-hacked/
The combination on his luggage is 1 2 3 4 5
You sure it's that complicated? Sure it's not 0 0 0 0 0 ?
He's smarter than that, it's 54321!
I think you are giving him more credit than he is due! He does not have that level of intellect!
I've never seen luggage with a 6-digit lock, let alone including punctuation!
Why would he lock his own luggage? That's what flunkies were for when he wasn't president.
Now he is, there is no need to lock it since the Secret Service guard his luggage closely in case someone sticks a bomb in it - and they protect former presidents (and their luggage) indefinitely after they have left office.
I know, there is always some bastard who ruins to a good joke (and it is a good joke). I'll get my anorak.
Gators!
Trump will be off to Florida - now the Secret Service will have to watchout for hungry gators as well
If Trump is convicted of the various offences alleged, does that mean the Secret Service go to jail, too?
That's the same as my air-shield
That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life!
less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
I really, really hope that's true.
The idea that 70+ million bigots will suddenly go "We were wrong, he's an arsehole" is pretty unlikely.
I expect Trump's sore loser antics to carry on for four years. At the end of that he may well get another shot. 300,000 dead and counting and still no negative reaction from his base. In fact, it's clearly not enough dead as his sick burst of lame duck federal executions shows.
We're just lucky he's a fucking idiot. Anyone with an ounce of nouse wouldn't have lost the election, and if they did they'd have used the lickspittles they installed in positions of power to cling on. We dodged a bullet but, judging by sleepy Joe's "let's all work together" bullshit, we haven't learned anything.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
And forgetful creepy Biden, who voted through actual racist legislation and was VP for 8 years, in which time groups like BLM formed.. who takes money from China, he's so much better. His running mate who has sent innocent people to prison, she's also a role model. Got it.
Branding all Trump voters as bigots is the most stupid thing I've read so far today, but there're plenty of hours left.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Not sure Biden is in the same Universe as Mr Trumpton. Never have I seem a more egotistical less presidential person than Donald Trump.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Yes. He's not very good. But soooo much better.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Yeah can you imagine Trump's mental and physical health at nearly 80 after 4 years of brooding and comfort eating?
It won't be good. He'll most likely have another stroke well before then.
In the meantime my post from a couple of months ago saying that Biden etc. will do f*ck all for the average American will have also come true.
Jimmy Dore for Pushing AOC for a vote on M4A!!!!! Go Jimmy!!!
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Ahhh so even after seeing Biden's corporate lobbyist status quo cabinet picks, some Dem folks are still in denial that they will get nothing over over the next 4 years.
Just look at AOC's current back peddling and gas lighting on why she won't support a vote on M4A as a taste of things to come.
Yeah asking for healthcare during a pandemic is 'not the right time'. Jeez.
They all get bought.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
The idea that 70+ million bigots will suddenly go "We were wrong, he's an arsehole" is pretty unlikely.
Absolutely, also they need to be incentivised.
Trumps little tantrums over the election raised about $250m from that 70+m idiots and his legal fees were about $10m, the remaining $240m going straight into his pocket (metaphorically speaking, yes he's fat but pockets don't get that big).
But that is just the beginning, he now has a list of the most gullible idiots in America and if he keeps spewing the same sort of incendiary crap, they'll keep giving. As long as he keeps out of prison he should be able to milk them for years.
Re: less than a month before no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Yep it's a great grift.
I saw all this coming back in 2015 when Newt Gingrich was challenged on some false crime BS he was spewing. He just smiled and said -
"It's not what's true that is important! It's what I believe is true that is!"
I knew we were all f*cked when I heard that.
no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
Did anyone ever care?
Does anyone ever care about anything ever written on twitter, beyond the twitterati making the original posts?
Oooh, look, fifteen million people have looked at my twit, how wonderful I must be...
Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
In a month time Trump will be Yesterday's News.
I hope that it stays that way.
Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
I'm pretty sure most of the news agencies can't wait for Uncle Donnie to be out of the WH. They can stop printing in yellow fonts. (that's yellow journalism for you youngins)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
Fast forward two years, and if Uncle Donnie is healthy, and not in the slammer, he will start up the yellow press again. Hopefully people have learned not to listen.
Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
The news agencies and MSM will go into decline most likely. Trump has been news gold for them.
As one American comedian said "Trump is like a scared horse loose in a children's hospital!"
Ratings and advertising revenue is going to plummet. Lot of people going to lose jobs and the talent have to make do with lower contracts.
It's their own fault really. It's a lot of people's fault.
Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
my twit or a twit?
Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again
i have always refered to Twitter as Twatter, becuase that is what i think of it
"Skeptical it would have been that easy to get into such an influential and safeguarded Twitter account ... everyone refused to accept it had happened."
Who's this "everyone"? It was entirely believable.
Passive aggressive?
A Twitter spokesperson said:
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 .
(Emphasis added)
Trump famously uses his personal Twitter account instead of the official US presidential one. Is this Twitter sort of sticking to their own rules and "accidentally" not securing a personal account?
Also, I find it hard to believe that he previously used yourefired . Although I would have no trouble with yourfired ;-)
Now we know why the ICBM's were set to 00000000?
Leaving aside the orange one's idiocy, why the hell are Twitter not flagging up that suddenly a US registered account got a login from the Netherlands?
I know Trump would ignore it, but it would be a much better look for Twitter if they were flagging suspicious logins and could blame this on a stupid user
It wasn't the Russians, it was the Dutch!
Anyway If he did post that message, he didn't act ethically at all..