SEC Confirms Its X Account Was Hacked and Posted False Bitcoin ETF Approval News

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that a hacker took over a mobile phone associated with the agency's X account through a "SIM swap" attack, thereby mistakenly posting about the SEC's approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on 9 January, when in fact it approved the bitcoin ETF the following day. Bitcoin ETF.An SEC spokesperson said, "Access to the phone numbers was achieved through the telecom carriers, not through the SEC system." SEC staff has not found evidence that an unauthorised party has accessed SEC systems, data, devices or other social media accounts.The SEC did not disclose the identity of the telecom operator. The agency also said it had deactivated multi-factor authentication for the account due to problems accessing it in July 2023, but has now reactivated it. The SEC was quick to approve the Bitcoin ETF in the wake of the embarrassing security breach. x (formerly Twitter) made a similar comment about the SEC hack in a statement a fortnight ago, saying that "the compromise was not due to any vulnerability in X's system, but rather due to an unidentified individual gaining control of the phone number associated with the @SECGov via a third party. control of the phone number associated with the account." The SEC is currently investigating with law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice.