A man from Alabama was arrested on Thursday morning and has been charged by prosecutors as the mastermind behind the hacking of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) social media account earlier this year. According to a previous report by Zombit, this incident led to the dissemination of a false announcement on social media platforms, misleading the market about the approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to a statement released by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old individual, has been charged with “conspiring to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.”
Prosecutors stated that Council collaborated with other co-conspirators to gain control of SEC’s X account and posted a tweet claiming that “today SEC approved #Bitcoin ETF for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.” This false tweet immediately triggered a market reaction, causing the price of Bitcoin to surge by over $1,000. However, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler quickly confirmed on social media that the account had been compromised.
It is worth noting that this false tweet was published just a day before SEC officially approved the Bitcoin spot ETF, which has already attracted billions of dollars in investments since its launch.
Prosecutors provided detailed technical details about the hacking attack. It is alleged that the hackers utilized the technique of “SIM card swapping,” which typically involves deceiving mobile service providers to transfer the victim’s phone number to the hacker’s device. US Attorney Matthew M. Graves stated in the statement, “These SIM card swap frauds can result in significant financial losses for victims and expose sensitive personal information.”
According to the charges, Council obtained the victims’ personal identity information, including their names and photos, through his co-conspirators and used this information to create fake identification cards. He then obtained a SIM card associated with the victim’s phone number at a mobile service provider in Huntsville, Alabama. Council subsequently purchased a new iPhone and used this SIM card for identity verification, successfully gaining access to SEC’s X account.
Following the tweet’s publication, Council received Bitcoin as a reward from his accomplices for successfully executing the SIM card swapping attack. Prosecutors also revealed that Council conducted various online searches related to the incident, including keywords such as “SECGOV breach” and “how to know if you’re being investigated by the FBI.”
SEC expressed gratitude to law enforcement agencies for their swift response and handling of this hacking incident and stated that they will continue to cooperate with relevant authorities to hold the hackers accountable.
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