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- FBI arrests man over SEC Twitter Bitcoin hack 👮♂️
FBI arrests man over SEC Twitter Bitcoin hack 👮♂️
The FBI has announced the arrest of an Alabama man over the January 2024 hack of the SEC's Twitter account that pumped the price of Bitcoin by $1,000.
Stephen Graves
October 17, 2024
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📝 What you need to know
The FBI has announced the arrest of an Alabama man over the January 2024 hack of the SEC’s Twitter account.
The hack, which took place amid fevered speculation around the approval of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, falsely claimed that the investment products had received SEC approval.
At the time, the tweet caused the price of Bitcoin to spike by as much as $1,000 before crashing after the fraud was revealed. The SEC subsequently announced the approval of multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. (for real this time).
The hack was an embarrassment for the SEC and its chair Gary Gensler, with U.S. Senators demanding an explanation for the security lapse. In a post-mortem, Twitter's Safety team revealed that the SEC's account didn’t have two-factor authentication enabled at the time of the hack—contradicting Gensler's own recommendations against identity theft and fraud.
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💬 Quote of the Day
“[The suspect] later conducted internet searches for ‘SECGOV hack,’ ‘telegram sim swap,’ ‘how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI,’ and ‘What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them.’”
