Eric Council Jr., 26, was sentenced to 14 months in jail and three years of supervised launch on Friday for collaborating within the hack of the official X account of the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee.
The U.S. Division of Justice introduced the sentencing in a press launch. Council and different hackers took over the SEC’s X account in 2024 to falsely announce that the company had authorized Bitcoin change traded funds, or ETFs, which shot up the worth of the cryptocurrency earlier than later dropping.
A screenshot of the pretend SEC put up revealed by hackers who took over management of the @SECGov X account on January 9, 2024
In line with the DOJ, Council and his co-conspirators carried out a SIM swap assault in opposition to the cellphone account of an individual who had entry to the SEC’s X account, which allowed the hackers to take management of their telephone quantity. From there, the hackers reset the password of the SEC’s X account, granting them management of the account.
