The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently experienced a security breach on its X account, leading to a false announcement regarding the approval of a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). The post was quickly removed and the SEC clarified that the account had been compromised and the announcement was unauthorized.
X’s Safety handle conducted a preliminary investigation into the incident. The findings revealed that the compromise was not due to a breach of X’s systems. Instead, an unidentified individual had gained control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party. It was also noted that the SEC’s account did not have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, a security measure that requires two forms of identification for user login.
2FA is a strong form of protection that could potentially prevent such compromises. It requires users to provide an additional code, such as a one-time-password (OTP) received by phone or email, along with the username and password. X Safety advises all users to enable this extra layer of security.
The false ETF approval announcement caused significant volatility in the Bitcoin market. The price of Bitcoin initially rose towards $48,000 before quickly plunging back down under $45,000. The asset then made some recovery as the market became aware of the hack. Despite the false approval, the event provided a glimpse into how the market might react if the ETFs were to be approved in reality. Bitcoin is currently trading around the $46,000 level, down around 2% in the last 24 hours.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | None |
| Companies | Shutterstock.com, US Securities and Exchange Commission, TradingView.com, X Safety |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
