X Confirms US SEC Account Was Compromised But Not Because of X System Breach

According to X, The account associated with @SECGov was compromised, indicating that someone other than the rightful owner has gained unauthorized access or control.

We can confirm that the account @SECGov was compromised and we have completed a preliminary investigation. Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number…

— Safety (@Safety) January 10, 2024

A preliminary investigation is been conducted to determine the nature and extent of the breach. This investigation is intended to gather information and assess the situation.

X confirms that the compromise did not occur as a result of a breach in the systems of the entity represented by “X” (presumably the organization associated with @SECGov).

X says the breach is attributed to an unknown individual gaining control of a phone number linked to the @SECGov account. This unauthorized access was accomplished via a third party, indicating an indirect method of compromise.

X says Two-factor authentication (2FA) was not enabled on the compromised account at the time of the incident. 2FA provides an additional layer of security by requiring a second verification step in addition to a password.

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What Happened Earlier

A few hours ago, an official tweet was posted from the account of SEC official X confirming that all Bitcoin spot ETFs had been approved.

Does this look like a fake tweet from a hack, or a pre-prepared tweet accidentally posted? pic.twitter.com/aTuZqo6Xpw

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 9, 2024

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States later clarified that it hadn’t granted approval for the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products.

This statement comes after an inaccurate tweet was posted on the official SEC Twitter account, which suggested that the regulator approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the first time.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler also corrected the situation, stating that the commission had not approved any spot Bitcoin ETFs listing and trading. He also confirmed that the SEC X account was compromised.

The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.

— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024