The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) experienced a cybersecurity breach on Tuesday when an unauthorized person gained access to the official @SECGov Twitter account. Hackers took control of the phone number associated with the account, allowing them to make unauthorized posts.
At 12:11 a.m., the hacker announced that the SEC had approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and two minutes later shared a second post that simply read “$BTC.” The second post was later deleted, but the first remained. The unauthorized individual also liked two posts from non-SEC accounts using the handle @SECGov.
Regarding the issue, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler published an announcement on his official website.
According to the announcement, SEC staff took immediate action after becoming aware of the incident. They warned the public through the official @garygensler Twitter account, stating that the @SECGov account had been hacked and that the SEC did not approve the listing and trading of products traded on the spot BTC exchange. The first unauthorized post was deleted and two liked posts were unliked. At 00:42, a new post was made on the @SECGov account stating that the account had been compromised.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stated that there is currently no evidence that an unauthorized party gained access to SEC systems, data, devices or other social media accounts.
According to its statement, the SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously and continues to evaluate the impacts of this incident on the institution, investors and the market.
Gensler said the SEC is coordinating with relevant law enforcement and federal oversight agencies in its investigations, including the SEC's Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
*This is not investment advice.