U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission X account hacked

The X account of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was hacked Tuesday, allowing bad actors to disseminate fake news concerning Bitcoin.

Confirmed by the safety team at X (formerly known as Twitter), the SEC's account was compromised after an "unidentified individual" hacked a phone number tied to the account. The breach was discovered on Tuesday, but not before the attackers were able to make a fake post.

The post claimed that the SEC had approved Bitcoin ETFs for trade on all registered exchanges, sending BTC prices shooting up to nearly $48,000. The price shortly fell to roughly $45,500-46,000 after the hack was reported and the post outed as a fake.

The SEC officially announced its approval of Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday, which began trading on Thursday of this week. 

The security team at X that disclosed the hack stated that the SEC was not using two-factor authentication (2FA) at the time of the attack, allowing the malicious party easier access to the account.

Senator Ron Wyden (D) of Oregon and Cynthia Lummis (R) of Wyoming, members of the U.S. Congress, wrote a letter to the SEC Friday, calling on the agency to reexamine its current security policies to prevent future hacks. 

The investigation into who perpetrated the attack is still ongoing as of press time.

Buy a Ledger Nano S Plus hardware crypto wallet at Amazon.