If “Mr. Robot” has taught us anything, it’s that Social media accounts are alarmingly easy to hack into, and unfortunately, the man who’s about to be sworn into the Oval Office has one of the most active accounts on Twitter. While President-elect Donald Trump mostly uses his account to call Celebrities “overrated,” give negative reviews of “Saturday Night Live” episodes, and troll Kim Jong-Un, it could be dangerous if the voice of one of the most powerful people in the world was hacked, which experts say could be happening very soon.
Trump’s Twitter account is one of his biggest political assets
Trump turned his Twitter account into a political power during his ultimately successful campaign, and according to these experts, hackers could manipulate and exploit what he has done with the account if they were to gain access, saying they could wreak havoc in the White House.
Trump has announced that he will not be using the secure government-controlled @POTUS account during his Presidency, and will continue to use his personal account @realDonaldTrump for all political matters he wants to share with his 20.1 million followers (and all the readers of the news websites that milk a news story out of each tweet he posts). The experts say that hackers will already have their eye on @realDonaldTrump as a potential target for attack.
Social media expert Jason Mollica told Fox News that “there will be people that will do their best to try to hack his account,” saying that in order to avoid an attack, “his team at the White House will have to be very vigilant” in order to ensure the President’s voice isn’t taken over by some cyberterrorist who could use the account to announce anything in the world to the American public.
Consequences could be dangerous for America
Evan Blair, co-founder of the social media cybersecurity firm ZeroFOX, says of the modus operandi of the potential attack: “Hackers could cause major scandals or major international issues if they simply posted a message” from Trump’s account. On the repercussions this could lead to he said that America could see “military tensions flare up,” as well as “civil unrest.”
Blair says that Trump merely clicking a link on his Twitter feed with his Android phone would invite hackers right in.
“All you need is one click,” says Blair, as this click, depending on where it’s going, could infect Trump’s phone with malware.
Trump’s Twitter has already been hacked
Trump’s Twitter account was briefly hacked back in 2013 (long before he was elected President or even announced his intentions to run). An anonymous hacker got in and used the account to quote Lil’ Wayne. Trump got control of his account back and sent out a tweet announcing that his account had been “seriously hacked” and assured his followers that he was “looking for the perpetrators.”
Blair recommends a specialist management software that Trump and his team could use to keep his Twitter account on lockdown, providing an extra layer of security to keep out any hackers with any wise ideas.
The software uses location-based security controls, a multitude of different passwords, personal information, and device verification to ensure that a twitter account is an impenetrable fortress. Mollica adds that this would be “a matter of his team using the right platform,” and that if Trump’s administration don’t take the threat of hacking seriously, “we’re going to see hackers get in there and do some damage.”
