The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported that its X ( formerly Twitter) account was hacked on January 9, 2024. An unknown person took control of the account by getting access to the phone number linked to it. They made a false post at 4:11 pm ET, wrongly stating the SEC had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, and another post saying “$BTC.” The second post was deleted, but not the first.
The SEC's Office of Public Affairs quickly informed the public about the hack through another official SEC Twitter account (Gensler's) at 4:26 pm ET. They clarified that the SEC had not approved Bitcoin exchange-traded products. The unauthorized posts were removed, and the SEC reached out to X( formerly Twitter) for help. They believe the hack was stopped between 4:40 pm ET and 5:30 pm ET.
The SEC is still looking into how the hack affected the agency and the public. They are considering what steps to take next to make sure their social media accounts are secure. The SEC assured that they committed to protecting its cybersecurity.