SEC Account Hack Amplifies Questions About X Security
- Breach sparks concerns about reliability of information on X
- Elon Musk’s X has been seeking to win back advertisers
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said its account on social network X was “compromised,” leading to a spike in the price of Bitcoin and raising fresh questions about X’s reliability as a source of information and the security options for its users.
The incident, one of the most consequential breaches in years on the platform formerly known as Twitter, began with a post on the SEC’s official verified account, which inaccurately shared that the regulator had approved spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds — a decision that had been anticipated for later this week. The price of Bitcoin quickly shot up more than 2.5% as news of the post spread online and via media outlets, including Bloomberg News, that were watching the SEC’s feed for such an announcement.