TechFlow reports, on October 18, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested 25-year-old Eric Council Jr. in Athens, Alabama. He is charged with involvement in the January cyberattack on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) X account (formerly Twitter), an incident that caused Bitcoin's price to surge by $1,000 within a short period.
According to the indictment, Council conspired with others to illegally gain control of the SEC's official X account on January 9, 2024, and impersonated the SEC Chair by posting false information claiming that the SEC had approved a Bitcoin ETF listing. Following the post, Bitcoin’s price rapidly increased by over $1,000. The SEC later clarified that the message resulted from an unauthorized security breach, after which Bitcoin’s price dropped more than $2,000.
The investigation revealed that the hackers obtained access to the SEC's X account through a "SIM swap" attack. Council is accused of using fake identification to obtain the victim’s SIM card at a mobile carrier store in Huntsville and purchasing a new iPhone. He then shared the access credentials of the SEC's X account with his co-conspirators, enabling the unauthorized posts.
Earlier reports indicated that on January 10, the SEC's official X account announced the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF listings, followed shortly by another post stating, “The SEC’s X account was compromised and unauthorized posts were made. The SEC has not approved the listing or trading of spot Bitcoin ETF products.”
