Tag Archive for: SEC

SEC Probes Twitter Security Lapse Before Elon Musk Took Over

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The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how Twitter Inc. managed a 2018 security lapse that exposed personal user information before billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform last year. The agency has been scrutinizing whether the former top executives failed to adequately disclose those privacy issues to shareholders or put in place proper controls, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential investigation. A bug on the social media platform had let outsiders view user email addresses during password resets, which revealed the identity of users, said one of the people.

The executives in charge at the time included Twitter’s former Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and former Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal, who became chief executive officer in 2021 after co-founder Jack Dorsey left the company. Dorsey was CEO in 2018.

It isn’t clear whether an enforcement action will result from the review or when it will wrap up, the people said. None of the former executives has been accused of any wrongdoing.

Agrawal and Segal were ousted last year after Musk purchased the company for $44 billion. Musk, who changed the platform’s name to X Corp., hired an outside law firm to do an internal investigation of complaints about lax computer-security measures at the company after he took over.

The SEC and a spokesman for Segal declined to comment. Spokespeople for X Corp. and Dorsey and a lawyer for Agrawal didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Twitter suffered several security breaches in 2018, including discovery of a computer virus that left users’ passwords exposed and a security flaw in Twitter’s system that made it possible to identify the country codes of Twitter users’ phone numbers. That misstep may have allowed wrongdoers to identify countries where accounts were based.

The SEC has been probing the actions of players in Musk’s controversial buyout of Twitter for months after questions arose about management of the social-media firm and the billionaire’s moves in acquiring it. The agency sued Musk Thursday seeking to force him to testify about whether his actions in the run-up to his Twitter…

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Internet Cut in Prayagraj, Sec 144 in Entire UP; Security Beefed Up Outside Umesh Pal’s Residence

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The brothers were shot dead at a point-blank range by three men posing as journalists, even as media personnel and police were present. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led UP government has ordered a high-level probe into the killings. “The chief minister has constituted a three-member judicial commission to probe the killing of Ahmad and Ashraf,” Special DG, of Law and Order, Prashant Kumar told PTI.

The probe was ordered at a high-level meeting in Lucknow, called by CM Yogi right after the incident on Saturday night. The three assailants were arrested from the spot and a detailed probe is on in the matter.

Besides, the postmortem of Atiq and brother Ashraf’s dead bodies will take place on Sunday amid tight security. A panel of five doctors will conduct the postmortem and the burial will likely take place at the Kasari Masari cemetery by late evening.

Briefing reporters in Prayagraj, Commissioner of Police Ramit Sharma said that the three assailants, who were arrested immediately after the incident, had joined the group of media persons who were trying to get sound bites from Ahmad and Ashraf.

“As per mandatory legal requirement, Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were brought to the hospital for medical examination. According to preliminary information, three persons posing as journalists approached them and opened fire. Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were killed in the attack. The attackers have been held and are being questioned, ” Sharma said.

In the incident, Constable Man Singh suffered an injury to his arm and a journalist was hurt after he fell during the commotion that followed the shooting, the officer said.

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SEC Spanks Blackbaud Over Lapses in Reporting Ransomware Attack

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Cloud computing firm Blackbaud is the latest company to find itself targeted by SEC, which alleges the company botched its response to a 2020 ransomware attack. To settle the matter, Charleston, South …

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SEC Charges 18 with Microcap Securities Scheme

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Traditional “Pump and Dump” schemes involve stimulating investor interest in low-cost (typically less than $1 per share) stock using press releases, cold calls, and social media advertising to spread false or misleading information about the issuing company. As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) warns on its “Investor.gov” website, “fraudsters typically …[seek] to create a buying frenzy that will ‘pump’ up the price of a stock and then ‘dump’ [i.e. sell] …their own shares at the inflated price.” See my July 25, 2022, blog “Mony a Mickle Maks a Muckle: SEC Charges Foreign Nationals with Two Microcap Frauds,” where the prices of the low-priced stock (generally called “microcap” securities or “penny stock”) were inflated because of undisclosed promotional campaigns, followed by carefully organized selling operations at the peak prices by the miscreants. Now comes a major technological innovation to such a scheme (the “Hack Attack”), where there is only limited need to expend the time, money, or efforts on a promotional campaign to raise the stock price; the retail investors do not have to be induced to actually buy the “dumped” stock.

On Monday, August 15, 2022, the SEC filed a Complaint (the “Complaint”) in the Federal Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, charging 13 individuals, five entities, and two relief defendants with i) illegally accessing at least 31 retail brokerage accounts in the U.S. in late summer of 2017 and in early 2018; and ii) causing those accounts to purchase the securities of two microcap securities: Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp., a Nevada corporation based in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, after moving from Point Roberts, Washington (“LBTD”); and Good Gaming, Inc., f/k/a HDS International Corp., also a Nevada corporation based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (“GG”). The stock of each company is quoted on the OTC Link operated by OTC Markets Group, Inc. For a detailed description of the OTC Market Group, Inc., and the OTC Link, see my Oct. 29, 2020, Blog “Keeping Securities Disclosures in the Pink: Amendments to SEC Rule 15c2-11.” LBTD…

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