Following on from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X (formerly Twitter) hack, US lawmakers are pushing for the SEC to review its cybersecurity practices after it was discovered there was no multi-factor authentication active at the time of the hack.
The hack resulted in a single tweet being released from the compromised account, stating that the SEC had approved exchange traded funds (ETF) for Bitcoin.
The tweet resulted in a jump in the price of Bitcoin up to $48,000 before dropping by 6% the tweet was confirmed as fake.
“Failure to follow cybersecurity best practices”
US lawmakers are now demanding an investigation into the incident, stating this breach could be a sign of other security weaknesses within the SEC that could lead to far more damaging breaches.
The bipartisan letter, written by Democratic senator Ron Wyden and Republican senator Cynthia Lummis, requests the review as a result of the SEC’s failure to implement two-factor authentication on the account at the time of the hack. The account was compromised due to an individual acquiring a phone number related to the account, and as a result was able to log in to the agency’s account.
The letter urged the SEC, “to investigate the agency’s practices related to the use of MFA, and in particular, phishing-resistant MFA, to identify any remaining security gaps that must be addressed.”
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has become a standard of online account security, with MFA providing an additional layer of security through the requirement of a one-time passcode, digital token, or biometric authentication in order to access an account.
Via Reuters
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