Bitcoin Volatility Amid US SEC Hacking Incident... Renewed Security Concerns Arise

'Bitcoin ETF Listing' Fake News Hacking Incident
Musk Cuts Physical Security Budget by 50% After Acquiring X
"X Can't Keep Up with Hacking Technology Advances"

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s social network X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked on the 9th (local time), and fake news claiming that a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) had been approved was posted. Concerns about X's security have resurfaced.

On that day, a post was uploaded to the SEC's X account stating that Bitcoin ETFs would be approved for listing on all registered securities exchanges in the U.S. Bitcoin prices surged to $48,000 (about 63.37 million KRW) per coin, and related reports flooded in. Minutes later, the SEC took emergency action. The SEC stated, "The X account was hacked," and "The unauthorized post about the Bitcoin ETF was not created by the SEC."

X revealed that an unidentified individual obtained the related phone number and hacked the SEC account. The regulatory authority stated that the SEC had not enabled additional security through two-factor authentication.

Alan Riska, an information analyst at Recorded Future, said, "Social media accounts used by the U.S. government should have multi-factor authentication enabled," adding, "However, this does not completely eliminate risks. There are hacking methods such as authentication token cookie theft."

Even during the Twitter era before Elon Musk's acquisition, X experienced several security issues. In 2017, an employee temporarily deactivated former U.S. President Donald Trump's account. Subsequently, Twitter introduced additional security steps for accounts of heads of state and other celebrities. Nevertheless, in 2019, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account was hacked, and racist remarks were posted. Also, in 2021, cryptocurrency scam groups hacked accounts of prominent figures such as former President Barack Obama, politicians, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, using them for scams.

Musk stated that security was strengthened after acquiring Twitter in October 2022. However, former X IT security chief Alan Rosa filed a lawsuit last month, claiming that Musk instructed a 50% cut in the physical security budget after acquiring X and discontinued programs that identified and fixed digital vulnerabilities. Additionally, Peter Zatko, former Twitter security chief who left the company in 2022, whistleblew to U.S. regulatory authorities about inadequate personal data protection and security practices.

A former Twitter executive who requested anonymity said that before Musk's acquisition, the company prioritized protecting key accounts such as government officials and included measures to quickly alert in case of suspected hacking. However, the employees responsible for this were laid off last year, he added.

Besides the SEC hacking incident, earlier this week, a British politician claimed that their account was hacked and used for cryptocurrency scams.

Bloomberg reported, "Musk has moved away from past efforts to suppress harmful content and drastically reduced staff to save costs," adding, "This has led to bugs and service outages." Alex Stamos, Chief Trust Officer at SentinelOne, stated, "(This incident) means that X is not keeping up with advances in hacking techniques."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.