SEC comments on X account hacking and fake Bitcoin ETF approval announcement | CoinDesk JAPAN

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on the 12th that there was no intrusion into the SEC’s systems and devices by the perpetrator who made a fake Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) approval announcement on the X (formerly Twitter) account on the 9th. Announced.

Revealing the timeline of hacking

On the 9th, @SECgov, the SEC’s official It turned out that it was fabricated by someone who had gained access to the site. On the 12th, the SEC clarified the timeline of events on the 9th in a statement. The first “fraudulent post” was made at 4:11 p.m. ET (9:11 UTC), and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler issued an explanation 15 minutes later.

The announcement states that SEC staff did not lose access to the accounts. Staff members removed the fake posts, un-liked other Bitcoin-related tweets, and shared updates on the main @SECgov account within 30 minutes.

The announcement said, “Staff also contacted X.com for assistance in terminating the unauthorized access to @SECGov’s account. Based on currently available information, staff has confirmed that unauthorized access to the account “We believe the outage occurred between 4:40pm and 5:30pm standard time.”

An SEC spokesperson said on Tuesday that the FBI is investigating the matter and that the SEC did not draft the message (the fake approval notice was scheduled for release). (He denied rumors that the announcement was made prematurely.) In an announcement on the 12th, it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is also investigating.

On the 10th, the SEC actually approved more than a dozen Bitcoin ETF applications, and trading began the next day.

Lawmakers demand answers on the circumstances

Many members of Congress were alarmed by the latest hack and publicly demanded answers as to how it happened. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis told SEC Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey’s office on the 11th that the The company issued a letter calling for an investigation into “clear failure to follow cybersecurity best practices.”

The letter notes that possible future hacks could undermine public markets and their stability.

The letter was preceded by Republican senators J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis, who themselves addressed a number of questions regarding the hack and the SEC’s decision-making surrounding Bitcoin ETFs. He asked Chairman Gensler to explain to the team. This includes how the SEC “plans to remediate financial losses suffered by investors as a result of the erroneous announcement.”

“The SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously,” the SEC said in a statement on Tuesday. “We acknowledge that the SEC includes concerns regarding the security of social media accounts. The staff will also continue to evaluate whether additional corrective action is warranted.”

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk
｜Original text: SEC Statement on the Hack of Its X Account and the Resulting Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval Announcement