- Eric Council Jr. was sentenced to 14 months in prison for hacking the X account.
- He used a SIM exchange attack to access the mobile number of the dry.
A man from Alabama, Eric Council Jr., was sentenced at 14 months in prison for its role in the hacking of January 2024 of the official DSA account. The hack led to a false position saying that the SEC had approved Bitcoin Spot ETF, causing rapid market fluctuations.
The 26 -year -old council of Athens, in Alabama, conspired with others to make an SIM exchange attack on a telephone number linked to the SEC @Secgov account. On January 9, he used a false identity document in an AT&T store to obtain an account -related SIM card. He then activated it on a new iPhone and received password reset codes for dry X profile.
Inside the dry hack x
The council captured and shared the codes with co-conspirators. One of them used reset identification information to access the account and publish FALS Bitcoin ETF approval. The Bitcoin price has climbed more than $ 1,000 in a few minutes, but dropped more than $ 2,000 after the SEC denied the complaint.
Although the Council did not write the false post, the prosecutors said that it had played a crucial role in activating the program. He pleaded guilty in February for a conspiracy to commit an aggravated identity theft. The authorities arrested him in October 2024.
Investigators discovered that he also had attempt Other SIM exchanges and identity fraud. In June, agents excavating his apartment found a false identifier, a portable identification printer and a laptop with models of forged documents. Its internet history included research such as “Clegov Hack” and “Signs that the FBI is after you”.
The council also appeared in a video broadcast by a group of pirates in February. In this document, he recognized his role, blamed the failures of the dry cybersecurity and minimized his responsibility. The prosecutors included the video in their memo of determining the sentence. However, his lawyer pleaded for mercy, not citing any criminal history and mental health struggles linked to the consumption of marijuana.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson pronounced the sentence of 14 months, 10 months less than the prosecutors asked. In addition, the Council must lose $ 50,000, the amount it has gained from SIM exchanges and serve three years of supervised release.
During the violation, the poor cybersecurity of the dry was also exposed. An earlier report revealed that its “non -effective” systems and need improvement. Ironically, the SEC officially approved the FNB Bitcoin one day after the false post.
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