Trump's Twitter password was 'maga2020!' and a hacker guessed it on his fifth try, say Dutch prosecutors

• Dutch prosecutors this week confirmed that an "ethical hacker" guessed President Donald Trump's Twitter password in October, although the company has not confirmed the hack.
• "After the successful login, the Dutchman tried to contact the American authorities to report the vulnerability identified," wrote prosecutors in The Netherlands in a blog post originally written in Dutch.
• A Twitter spokesperson on Friday re-upped the company's October statement, saying they'd seen "no evidence" of a hack into Trump's account. "We've nothing further to share," the spokesperson said via email.

It took a Dutch hacker only a few tries to get into President Donald Trump's Twitter account, guessing the correct "maga2020!" password on his fifth attempt.

Dutch prosecutors this week confirmed that the "ethical" hacker figured out Trump's Twitter password and signed into his account in October.

"After the successful login, the Dutchman tried to contact the American authorities to report the vulnerability identified. He made himself known and gave tips on how to repair this vulnerability," wrote prosecutors in a blog post originally written in Dutch.

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Twitter has not confirmed the hack.

Hacker Victor Gevers won't be charged with a crime, because he immediately reported it to authorities in the US and The Netherlands. Hacking is a crime there, but 'responsible disclosure' to authorities can get hackers off the hook, said prosecutors.

The hacker's claim has been disputed by some, and Twitter hasn't confirmed it.

A Twitter spokesperson on Friday re-upped the company's October statement, saying they'd seen "no evidence" of a hack into Trump's account. "We've nothing further to share," the spokesperson said via email.

The White House in October denied the hack.

Gevers said he'd gotten into the account in October by guessing Trump's password, "maga2020!"

Late on Thursday, Gevers posted a picture on Twitter of a leaflet from an October Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The wifi network at that rally was named "Make America Great Again," and it used the password "MAGA2020!!"

—Victor Gevers (@0xDUDE) December 17, 2020

Gevers said he used that password as a clue as he began guessing Trump's Twitter password. He said he was surprised to find that such a high-profile account wasn't using two-factor authentication, or "2FA."

"This was one of the indications that it could be 'MAGA' because if was already going around. It made sense to try a few variations in that line. For an unknown reason, 2FA was not enabled at that moment where it was before.

In October, Gevers shared a screenshot appearing to show Trump's account from the inside. The account name, photo, and bio appeared editable in the screenshot.

Twitter previously said it had seen "no evidence" that backed up the hacking story.

"We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today. We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government," said a spokesperson in October.