Summary
Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Cynthia Lummis are calling for an investigation into the recent compromise of the SEC’s X account. They have asked the SEC Inspector General to investigate what happened and the agency’s failure to follow cybersecurity best practices. The SEC’s X account was compromised, and a phony post about the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs was made. The senators argue that the SEC should have implemented two-factor authentication and phishing-resistant hardware tokens to protect its social media accounts. The SEC has stated that it is working with the relevant authorities to determine the cause of the compromise. Wyden and Lummis want an update on the investigation and remediation efforts by February 12. Other lawmakers have also demanded answers from the SEC regarding the incident.
Key Points
1. Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Cynthia Lummis are calling for an investigation into the SEC’s X account compromise and the agency’s failure to follow cybersecurity best practices.
2. The SEC’s X account was compromised, and a phony post was made stating that the agency had approved spot bitcoin ETFs, which was not true at the time. Chair Gary Gensler confirmed the compromise and the agency later approved spot bitcoin ETFs.
3. Wyden and Lummis criticized the SEC for not implementing industry best practices such as enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) and using phishing-resistant hardware tokens for account cybersecurity. They emphasized the importance of addressing security gaps and investigating the agency’s use of MFA.