Pwned Clinton aide Trumped

The Twitter account of Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta was hacked on Wednesday to back her rival US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta improbably declared for Trump following what’s since been confirmed as an account hijack. “I’ve switched teams. Vote Trump 2016. Hi pol,” a since deleted tweet stated.

The /pol reference suggests that denizen of 4chan - rather than state-sponsored Russian hackers - are the likely perps. Leaks suggest that Podesta's Outlook and iCloud accounts were also hacked. Password reuse, together with the absence of 2FA controls, facilitated the pwnage.

“Podesta used a personal, free email account, which wasn't managed by the campaign security team, to do campaign work. He paid the price,” said security expert Christopher Soghoian.

WikiLeaks has been releasing thousands of messages hacked from within the Clinton camp over recent days. Credentials disclosed as part of the dump may have facilitated the hack, although this is unconfirmed. ®