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 costs associated to the January 2024 hack of the US Securities and Alternate Fee’s (SEC) Twitter account, which noticed a pretend announcement in regards to 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 in regards to the tweet which might have raised suspicion amongst the everyday Twitter consumer – even those that would think about themselves cybersecurity-savvy.
Certain sufficient, the announcement induced a right away 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 court docket 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 that managed the SEC’s Twitter account – a purpose he achieved after making a pretend ID card bearing his face and their title.
Armed with a pretend identification 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 cellphone 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 understanding and accessing 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 obtained any messages despatched to it.
In line with prosecutors, Council obtained US $50,000 for his half within the plot.
In June 2024, the FBI searched Council’s condominium, and located the pretend ID card and a conveyable ID card printer. Inspecting the Council’s laptop computer additionally they discovered some incriminating web searches:
- “SECGOV hack”
- “telegram sim swap”
- “how can I do know for positive if I’m being investigated by the FBI”
- “What are the indicators that you’re beneath investigation by regulation enforcement or the FBI even when you’ve got not been contacted by them”
- “what are some indicators that the FBI is after you”
- “Verizon retailer record”
- “federal identification 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 should undergo “three years of supervised launch” beneath the situation that he doesn’t use computer systems to entry the darkish net or commit additional identification fraud.
