Prosecutor says Victor Gevers accessed the US president’s website. But as a moral hacker, there are no charges.
Last the Sea 16 December 2020 20. 48 GMT
Dutch prosecutors showed that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was hacked in October despite the refusals of Washington and the company, but said the “ethical hacker” would not be prosecuted.
The hacker, named Victor Gevers, broke into Trump @realDonaldTrump’s account in October guessing the U. S. President’s password, according to Dutch media.
The White House and Twitter have strongly denied reports that the account has been hacked.
Gevers, 44, promptly revealed the trick, saying the password he had guessed “maga2020!”referring to Trump’s slogan “Make America big again. “
The Republic’s Attorney’s Office (Openbaar Ministerie) said, “We, that the hacker did penetrate Trump’s Twitter account, but met the criteria developed in jurisprudence to lose freedom as a moral hacker. “
He added that piracy is an unscrupulous crime in the Netherlands, but said that “special circumstances,” also known in practice as “responsible disclosure,” can prevent prosecutors from taking action.
Dutch prosecutors issued their findings on an investigation through the police’s cyber specialty unit, called Team High-tech Crime.
“Both the hacker and the U. S. government have been informed of the investigation,” prosecutors said.
When the news of the hack was first announced, Gevers told De Volkskrant that the ease with which he had accessed Trump’s account warned him that the president had no fundamental security measures such as two-step verification.
“I expected to be blocked after 4 failed attempts. Or at least he would be asked to provide more information,” he told the Dutch newspaper.
Gevers told the newspaper that he tried to alert the U. S. government and eventually contacted the Secret Service, who thanked him for informing them about the security breach, he said.
This isn’t the first time Gevers has had access to the president’s Twitter account: in 2016, he and two others guessed Trump’s password, which at the time “you’re fired,” the slogan of the truth television screen The Apprentice.