Summary
A hacker hijacked a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staffer’s phone number and made a fake social media post claiming that the SEC had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US. The post caused a temporary increase in the price of Bitcoin before being deleted. The SEC confirmed that an unidentified person changed the password for the agency’s account after gaining control of an employee’s phone number. The agency did approve multiple ETFs the next day.
Key Points
1. A hacker used a SEC staffer’s phone number to create a fake social media post about the approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
2. The hacker gained control of the SEC’s account by changing the password after hijacking the employee’s phone number. The false post caused a temporary increase in the price of Bitcoin.
3. The SEC later approved multiple Bitcoin ETFs, but not the one mentioned in the fake post.