The above is a screenshot of a tweet claiming that a man gained access to former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, by guessing the password.
Reacting to the tweet, there are doubts and question marks around the veracity of the claims made cast by several Twitter users.
Background
With most people living their lives on social media and the availability of personal and confidential information all over the internet, hackers are devising different means of gaining unauthorised entry to these platforms, mostly with malicious intent. Celebrities and prominent figures have been the main targets in recent times of such widely publicized incidents.
3 people including a 17-year-old from Florida were identified in July 2020 as hackers who had taken over Twitter accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and Technology moguls and scammed people over $100,000 in Bitcoin.
Long after the claimed incident, the account has since gone the way of the wind after Twitter permanently suspended it on January 8, following incitement that led armed supporters storming the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6. Twitter offered a statement in their blog announcing the suspension due to the risk of further incitement and violence. This came after the tech company had given a warning a few days earlier regarding Trump’s violation of Twitter rules. The company further details how the account violated its public interest framework and more so the Glorification of Violence policy leading to the closure of the account.
Verification
According to The Guardian, a Dutch researcher correctly guessed the password which was “maga2020!”. The security expert by the name of Victor Gevers gained access to the account after guessing the password in his fifth attempt. “Maga” is a popular slogan used by Trump in his presidential campaign meaning Make America Great Again.
The BBC reported that Gevers shared screenshots of what he said was Donald Trump’s account on October 22nd. The Dutch police said he would not be prosecuted as he released the logins himself and reported to the police that there would be major interests involved if the Twitter account could be taken over so shortly before the presidential election. The police further said that they had sent their US counterparts their findings.
Verdict
The claim that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was hacked in October 2020 is therefore TRUE.
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