Trump’s Twitter account was hacked. It was a piece of shocking news. How can this incident happen? What were the impacts of this incident? Look at the explanation behind the Trump Twitter Hack incident below.
The Account Hacked by A Well-Known Cyber Investigator
A well-known cyber investigator Victor Gevers explained that he was the person who hacks Trump’s Twitter account. He even revealed more information to make sure that it was not a hoax. He didn’t show the exact data to tackle the denial statement from the White House. The White House denied that there was a hacking incident on President Trump’s Twitter account. If Victor Gevers was successfully trespassing the account it means he can see and send private messages, see tweets that are privately bookmarked, and also information about the number of people who hold and block the account. Gevers even can download and archive all the user’s data, including photos and messages.
The Way Victor Gevers Hack the Twitter Account
Victor Gevers seems to do his action easily. Gevers said that he was only guessing the password. He even reveals that the account is using MAGA2020 as a password. Gevers added that he hacked the account on 22 October 2020. He only made a semi-regular sweep of the Twitter accounts of high-profile US election candidates a few days before hacking the account. People don’t realize if the account was used by an intruder because Gevers didn’t post any tweets or change any settings. All he did was screenshots some parts in the account.
The Reason Why Victor Gevers Hack Trump’s Twitter Account
Gevers didn’t want to do something bad with his action and even tried to contact the campaign team to warn them about the security system. Gevers thought that the account lacked extra safeguards and advised the campaign team to use a two-factor authentication method. Most people use this method to protect their Twitter accounts because it links a phone app or number to an account. This method gives an extra step to the login process. There is nothing to worry about. The US President’s account is safe.
Reactions of This Incident
Indeed, people were waiting for the statement of the White House about the incident. The White House explained that there was nothing to worry about. Twitter even denied that there was a hack to the US president’s account. The representation of Twitter said that they didn’t see any evidence about what Victor Gevers has done. Twitter, As one of the social media with the largest users, described that they proactively implement a security system, including for federal branches of government. There is no further explanation from Twitter related to this hacking incident. The spokesman for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service also reacted to this hack. He said that their team investigated the action to make sure whether it was criminal or not. This service was an independent Dutch investigation team and didn’t work by the request for legal assistance.
The police also investigated Victor Gevers. Gevers answered questions by the High Tech Crime Team as a witness and was not a suspect yet. They have to prove that Gevers hack the account and are waiting for the result from the prosecutors. If Gevers did an illegal action and outside the realm of cyber-security research, he has to be ready to face up to four years in prison.
Victor Gevers’s Reaction to The Scepticism
Until today most people and parties sceptic about what Victor Gevers has done even when he gave the screenshots as proof. People think that the screenshots can be fake. Gevers explained that it was his normal job as an ethical hacker. Due to the scepticism and decline from all parties, Gevers stated that they should not doubt the action. The institutions know how Gevers work for 22 years. Victor Gevers even underlined his statement that he didn’t hack Trump’s account or bypass any security system. What he has done was guessed the password and warned Trump’s team about the risks. Gevers even showed them the way to solve this problem to give extra protection to the account.
It was not the first time that Victor Gevers claimed logged into Trump’s Twitter account. Before this claim, Gevers claimed that he did the same thing in 2016. He was cooperated with other security researchers to use a password linked to another of Trump’s social media accounts that discovered in a data breach. Gevers also gave the password to show that he successfully logged to Trump’s account. At that time, he claimed that Trump used the phrase “you’re fired”. It was a famous catchphrase from the reality TV star and politician.
