A 25-year-old Alabama man has admitted to his role in the hacking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account. The cyberattack led to a false announcement about Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), causing a brief price surge.
Eric Council Jr Pleads Guilty in US SEC X Account Hack
According to a Bloomberg report, an Alabama man Eric Council Jr. has pleaded guilty to charges related to the January 2024 SEC Bitcoin ETF hack. The case was heard in a Washington federal court, where Council admitted to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
The hack involved posting a fake announcement on the SEC’s X account, formerly Twitter, falsely stating that the agency had approved Bitcoin ETFs. The post caused Bitcoin’s price to rise sharply before the SEC clarified that the information was false. The official approval of the ETFs came a day later.
Prosecutors revealed that Eric Council Jr used a fake ID to deceive a phone store employee into granting access to the victim’s phone. This method, known as a SIM swap attack, allowed the hackers to bypass security measures and take control of the SEC’s social media account.
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