A 25-year-old man from Alabama, Eric Council Jr., has been arrested for hacking into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Twitter account and making fake posts that inflated the price of Bitcoin by $1,000 per unit. Council used SIM-swapping to steal the identity of someone with access to the SEC’s account and published a fake post about Bitcoin approval, causing market disruption. The breach occurred due to a lack of multifactor authentication on the account. Council posed as an FBI agent to obtain the necessary information and was paid in Bitcoin for his role in the scheme. Authorities are investigating the incident and questioning federal policies around social media account security.
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This article details the arrest of Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old Alabama man charged with hacking into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Twitter account and posting fake regulatory announcements that artificially inflated the price of Bitcoin. Council used SIM-swapping to steal the identity of a third-party individual with access to the SEC’s account, causing market disruption and financial losses. The incident raised concerns about the lack of multifactor authentication on the SEC’s social media accounts and the need for stronger cybersecurity measures in federal agencies. The analysis highlights the potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in agency social media use and the absence of standardized rules mandating multifactor authentication.
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