Our Daily Breach: FAFO edition
This is a weirdly true story about how A Giant Schnauzer fucks around, gets paid $50K to hack the SEC, then finds out.
In the sleepy winter market of January 2024, "AGiantSchnauzer" and his conspirators took over the @SECgov X/twitter account and spread misinformation about the acceptance of a Bitcoin ETF. The price of BTC surges $1K in value overnight. It later plummets by $2K as the SEC takes back control of their social media account and dispels the misinformation. You can read my take on this incident at the usual spot, but today's update on this story is ripe with juicier updates than usual.
So what happens to you if you get caught SIM swapping an SEC official, taking over an official SEC account on social media, and then post some misinformation on said social media platform?
In this particular case of Eric "AGiantSchnauzer" Counsil Jr., in February of 2025, as he was facing 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, he entered into a guilty plea deal.
On May 16 2025, Eric, now being referred to as the SEC X Hacker, plead guilty as the judge read his sentencing:
An Alabama man was sentenced today to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
With very few exceptions, I wouldn't wish the American prison system on anyone. That said, I feel like Eric got lucky with the 14 month sentence. He stole and used the voice of the American economy for $50K. It was market manipulation and the America we once knew would never allow anyone to get away with market manipulation.
I'm not sure what, if anything, will be illegal in the US by Christmas 2026, but I look forward to seeing the SEC X Hacker's efforts when he's out of Alabama state prison and behind the keyboard again. Maybe this time the SEC will remember to turn on MFA.
