Federal authorities introduced Thursday the arrest of a person in Alabama, accusing him of collaborating within the hack of the U.S. Securities and Change Fee’s X account earlier this 12 months.
Eric Council Jr. was indicted in reference to the SEC X account hack, which occurred on January 9, when the account revealed a publish falsely saying that the Fee had accredited Bitcoin ETFs to be listed in securities exchanges within the nation, a publish that elevated the value of Bitcoin by $1,000, based on a press launch by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace within the District of Columbia.
In keeping with the indictment towards Council, he labored with different unnamed co-conspirators to carry out a SIM swap on the cellphone account of an individual who had entry to the SEC’s X account, solely recognized as “C.L.”. Authorities alleged that Council obtained funds for performing SIM swaps, such because the one which led to the SEC X account hack.
On January 9, a co-conspirator despatched Council directions on learn how to SIM swap the cellphone of the particular person with entry to the SEC account on X, in addition to the personally figuring out info of the particular person. Council then traveled to an AT&T retailer with a faux id card for C.L. that he himself designed and printed, and claimed to be an FBI agent who had damaged his cellphone and wanted a brand new SIM card.
Council purchased a brand new iPhone to carry out the SIM swap, then used the cellphone to obtain a reset code for the @SECGov account on X, and despatched this code to a co-conspirator who hacked into the @SECGov account and posted the false publish in query, the indictment claims. At that time, Council returned the iPhone for money in Birmingham, Alabama, the indictment says.
Prosecutors wrote within the indictment that Council carried out a number of Google searches, resembling: “SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them,” and “what are some signs that the FBI is after you.”
Council was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated id theft and entry gadget fraud.
