Bitcoins
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- An Alabama man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for hacking the SEC’s X account in 2024
- Eric Council Jr used access to the agency’s account to claim that it had approved a Bitcoin ETF
- Bitcoin jumped $1,000 before retracing by $2,000 following the stunt
A 26-year-old Alabama resident has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for orchestrating a cyberattack on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account. The attack, carried out in January 2024, saw Eric Council Jr. claim that the agency had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the first time, sending the price of Bitcoin soaring by $1,000. When it was revealed to be fake, the price fell $2,000, and Council will now spend time behind bars for the stunt.
Bitcoins Council Rumbled by Internet Search History
Eric Council carried out his attack on January 9 2024, executing a SIM swap attack to hijack the SEC’s X account. In SIM-swapping attacks, perpetrators typically persuade telecom service providers to transfer a victim’s phone number to an attacker-controlled SIM card, access they can use to bypass SMS-based security measures and reset account passwords.
Council was arrested in October last year, when his methodology was revealed by the FBI. This began with him receiving personal identifying information and an identification card template from co-conspirators, containing their chosen victim’s name and photo. Council then used his identification card printer to create a fake ID with the information, which he then used to obtain a SIM card linked to the victim’s phone line.
He then purchased a new iPhone in cash and used the two items to obtain access codes to the SEC’s X account, sharing these codes with members of the conspiracy, who then accessed the account and issued the fraudulent tweet. Council received BTC payment for performing the successful SIM swap before returning the iPhone used in the SIM swap for cash.
When Council was arrested and his devices seized, worse was to come for him: 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” were found.
Bitcoins Guilty Plea Allows for Lenient Sentence
Council faced up to five years in jail for his crime, but pled guilty in February to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. As a result, last week he received a much more lenient 14 months, followed by three years of supervised release.
Of course, SIM swap attacks are nothing new, but the fact that the SEC was so successfully infiltrated shows that something has to be done about third-parties being able to gain access to devices in such a manner.
Mark Hunter Read More