Dutch hackers broke into Trump's Twitter account in 2016: Report

Three Dutch hackers managed to break into Donald Trump's Twitter account just three days before the elections, on 27 October 2016, They said they did not intend any harm as they were testing the security on the account, and then they reported the vulnerability to Trump and the United States government, hackers Edwin, Mattijs, and Victor told Vrij Nederland journalist Gerard Janssen.

The hackers gave Janssen screenshots and a timeline that seem to support their story. They belong to the grumpy old hackers collective. "These aren't people who tell a story for fun. I've seen the email exchanges and how they work," Janssen said to broadcaster NOS. "And they are very highly regard in the hacker community.

The hackers said they found Trump's password because of a LinkedIn data breach involving a database of 117 million username and passwords. The password 'yourefired' - the catch phrase for Trump's reality show The Apprentice - turned out to also work on his Twitter account. "They were shocked when it worked," Janssen said. "The Dutch knew they were potentially in trouble, because it could be interpreted as a cyber attack on a presidential candidate."

The trio carefully documented their hack with screenshots, to be able to prove that their intentions were not criminal in nature. They immediately sent an email to Trump and the US government, warning them that the Republican nominee's Twitter account was vulnerable because of the 2012 LinkedIn data breach. They said they never heard back from Trump, but they did get a message from the National Cyber Security Center saying that the American government had taken up the report. "Thank you for contacting us."

"They think it's a good example of responsible disclosure," Janssen explained to NOS. "For example, if a police officer sees a garage door open, it shouldn't matter who owns that door. He just reports it."

Aside from LinkedIn, there was also a link between Trump's name, the "yourefired" password, and a login for the website Ashley Madison, a dating site which targets married people and others who are already in relationships.