U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler provided an update on the agency's investigation into a cyber attack targeting the Twitter account in a statement posted Friday.
The report came three days after the SEC's Twitter account posted a message saying that all Bitcoin ETFs the agency is reviewing have been approved. The fake tweet comes as the cryptocurrency world waits with bated breath to see if and when the EEF will move forward.
A tweet from Gensler's separate account shortly after the fake news was posted said the SEC account had been “compromised.”
“The unauthorized party made a post at 4:11 pm ET announcing the commission's approval of spot bitcoin exchange funds, and also made a second post about two minutes later titled “$BTC,” Gensler wrote. “The unauthorized party deleted the second post, but not the first.
“An unauthorized party using the @SECGov account liked two posts by non-SEC accounts.” The update has been read.
Gensler said the SEC is still evaluating the scope of the incident, but there is no evidence that an unauthorized party gained access to other SEC systems, data, or other social media accounts.
SEC staff deleted the first unauthorized post and disliked the two posts and posted a new tweet about the deal thirty minutes after the incident.
By 5:30 a.m. ET, Gensler said, the hackers had been kicked out of the account and unauthorized access had been terminated.
On Wednesday, Twitter confirmed the incident but emphasized that the hack was not the result of a breach of the social network.
“When an unidentified individual gained control of a phone number associated with the @SECGov account by a third party,” Twitter's security department said.
“The SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations very seriously,” Gensler continued. “Commission staff are still assessing the impact of this incident on the agency, investors, and the marketplace, but understand that impacts include concerns about the security of SEC social media accounts.”
“Staff will continue to assess whether additional corrective actions are warranted,” the statement continued.
Gensler said the SEC is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the SEC's Office of Inspector General and the Department of Homeland Security to find the perpetrators of the fake tweet. Gensler reiterated that the SEC does not issue notices about activities on social media.
“Where necessary, the commission will publish its actions on the commission's website,” he said. “The Commission does not use social media channels for publicity. Social media posts only reinforce the announcements on our website.”
Digital artist Billy Rusty has written Gensler's “spoiled” tweet in a formal text to commemorate the moment in Bitcoin history.
“Lest we forget, this tweet has been immortalized on Bitcoin forever,” Rusty tweeted.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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