A 25-year-old man from Alabama has been sentenced to 14 months in a federal jail for his half in a hack that resulted within the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to briefly soar in worth.
Eric Council Jr., of Athens, Alabama, pleaded responsible to expenses associated to the January 2024 hack of the US Securities and Trade Fee’s (SEC) Twitter account, which noticed a faux announcement concerning the Bitcoin cryptocurrency posted to its 660,000+ followers.
The tweet was accompanied by a really company picture picturing SEC chairman Gary Gensler endorsing the announcement. Frankly, there wasn’t a lot concerning the tweet which might have raised suspicion amongst the standard Twitter person – even those that would think about themselves cybersecurity-savvy.
Certain sufficient, the announcement brought about an instantaneous and dramatic spike within the worth of Bitcoin, earlier than it slipped down once more after Gensler confirmed on his private account that the SEC’s account had been compromised.
In line with courtroom paperwork, Council was a part of a web-based gang that specialised in SIM-swapping and hijacking social media accounts. His position was to impersonate the one who managed the SEC’s Twitter account – a purpose he achieved after making a faux ID card bearing his face and their title.
Armed with a faux id card, Council walked into an AT&T retailer in Huntsville, Alabama, and satisfied a retail worker handy over a SIM card for the sufferer’s telephone quantity.
He then raced to an Apple Retailer, purchased an iPhone, plugged within the SIM, and intercepted the password for the SEC’s Twitter account. As I’ve beforehand described, Twitter sadly makes it potential to reset an account password simply by realizing and getting access to its related cellphone quantity.
And Council, after all, not solely knew the cell phone quantity related to the SEC’s Twitter account, he was additionally in possession of a SIM card that meant he acquired any messages despatched to it.
In line with prosecutors, Council acquired US $50,000 for his half within the plot.
In June 2024, the FBI searched Council’s condo, and located the faux ID card and a conveyable ID card printer. Analyzing the Council’s laptop computer additionally they discovered some incriminating web searches:
- “SECGOV hack”
- “telegram sim swap”
- “how can I do know for certain if I’m being investigated by the FBI”
- “What are the indicators that you’re beneath investigation by regulation enforcement or the FBI even in case you have not been contacted by them”
- “what are some indicators that the FBI is after you”
- “Verizon retailer record”
- “federal id theft statute”
- “how lengthy does it take to delete telegram account”
Council, who had been going through as much as 5 years in jail, was sentenced by Choose Amy Berman Jackson to 14 months in jail, and ordered to a pay a forfeiture of US $50,000. After finishing his jail sentence, Council must undergo “three years of supervised launch” beneath the situation that he doesn’t use computer systems to entry the darkish internet or commit additional id fraud.
