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 prices associated to the January 2024 hack of the US Securities and Change 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 prompted 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 accordance with courtroom paperwork, Council was a part of an internet 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 objective he achieved after making a faux ID card bearing his face and their identify.
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 attainable to reset an account password simply by figuring out and gaining access to its related cellphone quantity.
And Council, in fact, 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 accordance with prosecutors, Council obtained US $50,000 for his half within the plot.
In June 2024, the FBI searched Council’s house, and located the faux ID card and a transportable 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 certain if I’m being investigated by the FBI”
- “What are the indicators that you’re underneath investigation by legislation enforcement or the FBI even you probably have not been contacted by them”
- “what are some indicators that the FBI is after you”
- “Verizon retailer checklist”
- “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 Decide 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” underneath the situation that he doesn’t use computer systems to entry the darkish internet or commit additional id fraud.
