U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler provided an update on the investigation into a cyberattack targeting the agency’s Twitter account in a statement posted Friday.
This report comes three days after the SEC’s official Twitter account posted a message saying that all Bitcoin ETFs under review by the agency have been approved. This false tweet came at a time when the cryptocurrency world was waiting with bated breath to find out if and when the ETF would move forward.
Shortly after the fake news was posted, a tweet from Gensler’s separate account said the SEC’s account had been “compromised.”
“The unauthorized party made one post at 4:11 PM ET purporting to announce the Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin listing trading funds, followed by a second post about two minutes later that said “$BTC” Posted, Gensler wrote. “The unauthorized party subsequently deleted the second post, but not the first.
“Unauthorized parties using the @SECGov account also liked two posts from non-SEC accounts.” I’ve read your update.
Gensler said the SEC is still assessing the scope of the incident, but there is no evidence that unauthorized parties accessed other SEC systems, data or other social media accounts.
SEC staff deleted the first unauthorized post, unliked two liked posts, and posted a new tweet about the compromise 30 minutes after the event.
Gensler said that by 5:30 PM ET, the hackers were kicked out of the account and unauthorized access was ended.
Twitter on Wednesday confirmed the incident but stressed that the hack was not the result of a breach of the social media site.
“An unidentified individual obtained control of phone numbers associated with the @SECGov account through a third party,” Twitter’s safety department said.
“The SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously,” Gensler said. “Committee staff are still assessing the impact of this incident on institutions, investors, and markets, but recognize that these impacts include concerns about the SEC’s security of social media accounts.”
“Staff will continue to evaluate whether additional remedial action is needed,” he added.
Gensler concluded by saying the SEC is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the SEC Office of the Inspector General, and the Department of Homeland Security to find the culprits behind the fake tweets. Gensler reiterated that the SEC does not announce actions on social media.
“The important thing is that the committee publishes its actions on the committee website,” he said. “The Commission does not use social media channels to publicize its actions. Social media posts only amplify what is published on our website.”
Digital artist Billy Restey engraved Gensler’s “compromised” tweet into Ordinals Inscription to commemorate the moment in Bitcoin history.
“This tweet will be remembered forever in Bitcoin, lest we forget.” Restey tweeted.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.