A Dutch security researcher has successfully hacked and accessed Donald Trump’s Twitter account. And you may be surprised to know how easy it was to hack the Twitter account of the president of the United States of America. And even more surprisingly, it didn’t have two-factor authentication.
When hacking the US president’s Twitter account, you might think the hackers accessed a Twitter backend, used a sophisticated hacking method, a phishing attack, or social engineering.
No, the Dutch security user was able to guess the password of Donald Trump’s Twitter account, and not only that, he was able to guess the password in his fifth attempt. And the password was, ‘maga2020!’.
Maga stands for ‘make America great again.’, a popular slogan for the Trump campaign.
Even though he was able to get full access to Trump’s Twitter account, unlike a malicious actor, he did not do anything with the account and instead took screenshots of the account and has reported it to necessary authorities about the hacking incident.
If a malicious attacker was able to gain access to Trump’s Twitter account, he could have done far more sinister things with the Twitter account.
Earlier this year hackers gained access to multiple high-profile Twitter accounts. By accessing a back-end dashboard, they gained access to Donal Trump, Barak Obama, Elon Musk, and even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and similar high-profile accounts, and asked unsuspecting users to send bitcoins to a bitcoin address.
Don’t be like Donald Trump, How can you protect your Twitter and other social media accounts?
It’s 2020, and you must use a strong password at all times. Brute force attacks have gotten more powerful over the years, and like Trump’s Twitter account, if you use a simple password, you are at risk of someone able to guess and login to your accounts.
You can also add an extra layer of security by adding two-factor authentication, and it’s important that you enable whenever available. Currently, all major web services enable two-factor authentication, including Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Google.
It is surprising to know that the US president didn’t have two-factor authentication enabled for his Twitter account.
This is not the first time that a high-profile personality didn’t use a strong password. In 2016 Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and other social media accounts were hacked when he used the simple password ‘ dadada’.
You should always be aware of phishing attacks as well, as it is not only simple to execute but also one of the common ways to get hacked. Celebrities to the democratic party and even big companies like Twitter all have been victims of phishing attacks.
So don’t be like Trump and make sure to enable all the good security practices and safeguard your digital accounts today.
