The hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s official account on X on Tuesday has renewed concerns about the security of Elon Musk’s social media platform. However, the X safety team has confirmed that the account was compromised due to the SEC failing to enable two-factor authentication rather than any breach of X’s systems.
The hackers posted false news about the SEC’s approved all spot Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC deleted the post about 30 minutes after it appeared, reported Reuters on January 10.
X confirmed after an investigation that the SEC’s account was compromised after an unidentified individual gained control over a phone number linked to the security agency through a third party. X also said in a post that two-factor authentication was not enabled by the SEC official account.
In addition, X said there was no breach of the platform’s systems. However, security analysts call the incident concerning. Others are blaming Elon Musk for the incident and the lack of security measures on the platform.
“Something like that, where you can take over the SEC account and potentially affect the value of bitcoin in the market – there’s a massive opportunity for disinformation,” said Austin Berglas, a former cybersecurity official at the FBI’s New York office and a senior executive at the security firm BlueVoyant.
The fake SEC announcement caused massive volatility in the Bitcoin price, causing over $140 million in total liquidation in hours, according to data by Coinglass. BTC price currently trades under $46,000 after the fake SEC post.
The SEC is now working with law enforcement and others in the government to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, Congressional members seek answers from the SEC and Gensler about the blunder.
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