Alabama Man Sentenced for SEC Twitter Hack

Eric Council Jr., a 26-year-old resident of Alabama, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for a sophisticated SIM-swap attack on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Twitter account. In January 2024, he falsely announced Bitcoin ETF approvals, causing significant market volatility after disseminating false information through the SEC’s X/Twitter account. The impact was immediate: Bitcoin prices spiked by over $1,000 before falling sharply when the falsity was exposed. This incident demonstrates the vulnerability of agency communications platforms to social engineering tactics and their potential for financial manipulation.