Skip to content
Techzine Europe
Techzine News Security Hackers got into Trump’s Twitter account, days before 2016 election
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Topstories
    • Analytics
    • Applications
    • Collaboration
    • Data Management
    • Devices
    • Devops
    • Infrastructure
    • Privacy & Compliance
    • Security
  • Insights
    • All Insights
    • Low-code
    • Security
  • Information
    • Become a partner
    • About us
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Techzine Europe
  • Techzine Netherlands

"*" indicates required fields

Stay tuned, subscribe!

Nieuwsbrieven*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Hackers got into Trump’s Twitter account, days before 2016 election

Hackers got into Trump’s Twitter account, days before 2016 election
Kimanthi Sammy
September 16, 2020September 16, 2020
min

Tags in this article

account, Donald Trump, Hackers, Twitter

Edwin, Mattijs, and Victor are three old chaps from the Netherlands who were able to access Donald Trump’s Twitter account in 2016 when they extracted his password from a LinkedIn hack that happened back in 2012.

The three men told reporters that they got the login details from a database that was being shared about hacks from the past and then tried it on his account.

Surprisingly enough, the password, but not the email, tied to the @realdonaldtrump account, worked initially. The Twitter process confirmed that the password was correct. The story was published by the Vrij Nederland (VN), a Dutch magazine published since the Second World War. 

The LinkedIn breach of 2012

The journalist who broke the story, Gerard Janssen, said that the password was among a digital cache of data with 120 million usernames and passwords. It was the highlight of break-ins back in 2012, linked to a LinkedIn breach.

A Russian hacker was able to get the database and put it on the public internet in 2016. The researchers were able to look over the database that had 6.5 million hashed but unsalted passwords. While looking through, they saw an entry for Trump as well as the hash for his password.

Password security still a concern

Using a hash-reversing tool known as John the Ripper, they uncovered Trump’s login credentials. The password was “yourefired,” and after some searching, they found the correct email address (twitter@donaldjtrump.com.)

The three Dutchmen were thwarted by Twitter, which detected that the man who would be president had logged in earlier from New York. Using a proxy server, they found their way into the account. VN was able to provide screenshots of the logged-in account.

The men prepared a report to alert authorities later. It would seem that people have a tendency to use the same password for everything and would benefit from stronger and different passwords in case of doubt.

Recent in Privacy & Compliance

France’s Digital Minister says he’s ready to ‘ban’ Twitter

Are Google and OpenAI the right partners to regulate AI?

Google will ship Privacy Sandbox tools in July

Telecom regulators join Big Tech in fight against network tax

China deems Micron products a threat to national security

Jobs - Techcareer

Manager Technical Support

Hoofddorp Full time

Cloud Services Presales Enterprise Architect

Amstelveen Full time

Related articles

Twitter will archive unused accounts

Twitter will archive unused accounts

Hacker offers Twitter data of 5.4 million accounts for $30,000

Hacker offers Twitter data of 5.4 million accounts for $30,000

WhatsApp vulnerability allows hackers to suspend your account

WhatsApp vulnerability allows hackers to suspend your account

Hackers stole and changed Pfizer’s vaccine research to damage reputation

Hackers stole and changed Pfizer’s vaccine research to damage reputation

Twitter developers’ private keys and account tokens could be exposed

Twitter developers’ private keys and account tokens could be exposed

Events - Techcalendar

June 13, 2023, Nieuwegein State of Code Security

State of Code Security

June 13, 2023, Circa Amsterdam SAS Innovate on tour

SAS Innovate on tour

June 20, 2023, Las Vegas HPE Discover 2023

HPE Discover 2023

Top Stories

Database evolutions: caching in with schema-as-code 

Database evolutions: caching in with schema-as-code 

Databases move. By their nature, developers and database administrators (DBAs) along with the full cadre of O...

Review: Samsung S23 flagships flex their muscles

Review: Samsung S23 flagships flex their muscles

Samsung has been offering customers a wide range of smartphones and connected devices for a while. We're taki...

Do data centers need an overhaul? Nvidia says they do

Do data centers need an overhaul? Nvidia says they do

Data centers are only becoming more important. The rise of the digital medium in enterprise means that organi...

emma wants to make multi-cloud accessible for everyone

emma wants to make multi-cloud accessible for everyone

Managing a complex multi-cloud environment is no easy task. Emma's multi-cloud platform wants to make clouds ...

Fermyon: What’s Up With Wasm?

Fermyon: What’s Up With Wasm?

Wasm is what’s up. In terms of the hot technologies discussed at any of the major enterprise IT shows being...

Recent news

Prominent researcher downplays AI fears

Prominent researcher downplays AI fears

Prominent AI researcher Kyunghyun Cho questions AI's potential to pose an existential threat. Several experts...

date1 day ago
GitHub introduces new Activity View

GitHub introduces new Activity View

GitHub has introduced new Activity View functionality in beta. This gives developers better insight into push...

date1 day ago
ASUS brings AI servers to the office

ASUS brings AI servers to the office

ASUS wants to give companies more control over the security of their data when using generative AI tools. To ...

date1 day ago
NCC Group wants to sell Fox-IT, CEO exits

NCC Group wants to sell Fox-IT, CEO exits

Britain's NCC Group, owner of Fox-IT, plans to split up the Dutch security company and sell off parts. Fox-IT...

date1 day ago
Google entices bug bounty hunters with big offer

Google entices bug bounty hunters with big offer

Starting today and running until December 1st, 2023, those intrepid hunters who successfully report sandbox e...

date1 day ago
Meta unveils the Quest 3 headset, beating Apple to the punch

Meta unveils the Quest 3 headset, beating Apple to the punch

Meta has officially unveiled its Quest 3 headset. Full details will be revealed at the Meta Connect event on ...

date1 day ago

Techzine Europe - Your single source of truth!

Techzine focusses on IT professionals and business decision makers by publishing the latest IT news and background stories. The goal is to help IT professionals get acquainted with new innovative products and services, but also to offer in-depth information to help them understand products and services better.

Follow us

Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

© 2023 Dolphin Publications B.V.
All rights reserved.

Techzine Service

  • Become a partner
  • Advertising
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Statement