The FBI arrested the person allegedly accountable for hacking the US Securities and Change Fee’s (SEC) X account and utilizing it to make a pretend submit in regards to the approval of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within the US in January.
In accordance with a assertion by the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia, the person’s identification is Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old from Athens, Alabama. The pretend announcement resulted in BTC’s worth spiking $1,000, earlier than crashing by $2,000 after the SEC regained management of the account and issued a correction.
Council is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identification theft and entry machine fraud. The FBI revealed that the assault was executed via a SIM swap, the place Council and co-conspirators manipulated a sufferer’s cellphone quantity to entry the SEC’s X account.
Assault paid in Bitcoin
In accordance with the indictment, Council used stolen private data to forge a pretend ID doc to conduct the SIM swap, which gave him entry to the SEC’s social media account.
SIM Swap is a social engineering assault vector consisting of a nasty actor who makes use of the sufferer’s private data to trick cell service suppliers into porting the cellphone quantity to a brand new SIM chip.
Thus, the hackers achieve entry to each platform the place the sufferer makes use of its cell quantity as login credentials. Council allegedly offered the pretend ID at a cellphone supplier retailer in Alabama.
After posting the fraudulent message, Council acquired cost in Bitcoin for his position and shortly returned the tools used within the assault.
U.S. Lawyer Matthew M. Graves emphasised the significance of holding these accountable who manipulate markets via cybercrime. The Justice Division, the FBI, and the SEC’s Workplace of Inspector Common led the investigation.
Millionaire crypto losses
SIM swap assaults are additionally a typical assault vector utilized by hackers to steal crypto. In 2017, investor Michael Terpin misplaced $24 million after a nasty actor compromised considered one of his wallets utilizing this technique.
Furthermore, a bunch of three people allegedly stole over $400 million in crypto between March 2021 and April 2023 through the use of SIM swap assaults to achieve entry to wallets.
As reported by Ars Technica, the group used the identical technique allegedly utilized by Council, printing pretend ID playing cards and utilizing them to pose as victims in cellphone service supplier shops.