Federal authorities announced Thursday that they have arrested an Alabama man for his alleged involvement in the hacking of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission X accounts earlier this year.
Eric Council Jr. was charged in connection with the SEC X account hack that occurred on January 9th. The account published a post falsely announcing that the commission had approved the listing of a Bitcoin ETF on the domestic stock exchange, and the number of posts increased. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the price of Bitcoin increased by $1,000.
According to the indictment against the council, he worked with other anonymous co-conspirators to perform a SIM swap on the phone account of a person (identified only as CL) who had access to the SEC X account. Authorities alleged that the council received payments for performing SIM swaps, such as the one that led to the SEC X account hack.
On January 9, the co-conspirators sent the Council instructions on how to SIM-swap the cell phone of a person who had access to X's SEC account and regarding that person's personal identifying information. Council then went to an AT&T store with a fake CL ID that he had designed and printed, claiming to be an FBI agent who needed a new SIM card because his cell phone was broken.
Screenshot of a fake SEC post published by hackers who took control of the @SECGov X account on January 9, 2024.
The council purchased a new iPhone to perform the SIM swap, used the phone to receive a reset code for X's @SECGov account, and used this code to hack the @SECGov account and post false posts. Sent to co-conspirator. That question, the indictment alleges. At that point, Council returned the iPhone in exchange for cash in Birmingham, Alabama, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say in the indictment that the council was involved in “SECGOV hacking,” “Telegram SIM swapping,” “how do I know for sure if I'm being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the signs of an investigation?” He wrote that he performed several Google searches such as “. You are being investigated even if you have not been contacted by law enforcement or the FBI,” and “What are the signs that FBL is coming after you?”
Council was charged with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit access device fraud.