SEC Chairman Gary Gensler officially responds to social media account security vulnerability.

On January 12th, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), made a statement announcing that the official SEC X.com account @SECGov was hacked and used by hackers to disseminate false information without authorization. X (Twitter) Security Department: The SEC account leak is unrelated to the platform, and the SEC did not enable two-factor authentication.

SEC Official Announcement Incident

The SEC announcement stated that on January 9, 2024, at 4:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time, an unauthorized individual successfully hacked an account associated with the @SECGov account using a phone number under their control, according to Gensler's statement. The hacker posted a false tweet at 4:11 PM claiming that the SEC had approved a Bitcoin spot ETF. Shortly after, a brief "$BTC" tweet was posted two minutes later. Although the second tweet was quickly deleted, the first one was not promptly addressed.

SEC Hacked with Fake News! On the eve of the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler manipulated the market

Response Measures

Upon discovering this incident, staff from the SEC's Office of Public Affairs immediately issued a statement on X.com through the official account @garygensler, clarifying that the @SECGov account had been compromised and emphasizing that the SEC had not approved any spot Bitcoin trading products. The staff promptly deleted the first unauthorized tweet, removed previous likes, and posted a new tweet at 4:42 PM confirming the account had been compromised. The SEC also reached out to X.com for assistance. It is understood that the unauthorized access was terminated between 4:40 and 5:30 PM that day.

Investigation Progress

The SEC is coordinating the investigation with relevant law enforcement and federal regulatory agencies, including the SEC's Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The agency will provide timely updates on the progress of the incident.

It is important to note that the SEC discloses its actions through its official website http://www.sec.gov and does not announce significant news through social media channels; social media is only used to disseminate announcements already published on the website.