Washington, DC – Congressman Warren Davidson (OH-08), member of the House Financial Services Committee and sponsor of the Market Data Protection Act 2017 that passed the U.S. House of Representatives this week, called SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s decision to launch the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) database without additional time from Congress an all clear on future cyber-attacks to U.S. securities markets.
“The SEC and Chairman Clayton's actions apparently signal an all clear on future cybersecurity threats to our securities markets,” said Rep. Warren Davidson. “As the CAT will be the largest financial database in the world, Ohio families and American companies deserve the highest standards in cybersecurity available and I look forward to my colleagues in the Senate swiftly passing the Market Data Protection Act. Additionally, I look forward to further guarantees and assurances from Chairman Clayton in committee. Chairman Clayton's decision to push forward and launch CAT on Nov. 15 without the additional time offered by Congress for safeguards tells me the SEC and our most sensitive information is fully protected from all future hacker attacks.”
In a recent cyber-attack at Equifax, 143 million people including 5 million people from Ohio had their personal data upended. On September 20, 2017, hackers breached the EDGAR database at the SEC which stores millions of public and nonpublic filings.
Additionally, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found “information security control deficiencies in the SEC computing environment may jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information residing in and processed by its systems.” The report continued, “Until SEC mitigates its control deficiencies, it’s financial and support systems and the information they contain will be at unnecessary risk of compromise.”
H.R. 3973 the 2017 Market Data Protection Act, which recently passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate, is a bipartisan bill directing the SEC and others to accelerate cybersecurity risk controls to prevent future hacker attacks. This bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D, CA-30) and supported by the Financial Services Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Specifically, the 2017 Market Data Protection Act would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) operator to develop internal risk controls to safeguard and govern market data stored by those entities, market data sharing agreements, and “academic research performed at [these entities] using market data.” The Act further: a) prohibits the CAT operator from accepting market data until these controls are developed, and b) relieves CAT participants from any requirement to provide market data, during the period in which the operator is prohibited from receiving it.
“The SEC and Chairman Clayton's actions apparently signal an all clear on future cybersecurity threats to our securities markets,” said Rep. Warren Davidson. “As the CAT will be the largest financial database in the world, Ohio families and American companies deserve the highest standards in cybersecurity available and I look forward to my colleagues in the Senate swiftly passing the Market Data Protection Act. Additionally, I look forward to further guarantees and assurances from Chairman Clayton in committee. Chairman Clayton's decision to push forward and launch CAT on Nov. 15 without the additional time offered by Congress for safeguards tells me the SEC and our most sensitive information is fully protected from all future hacker attacks.”
In a recent cyber-attack at Equifax, 143 million people including 5 million people from Ohio had their personal data upended. On September 20, 2017, hackers breached the EDGAR database at the SEC which stores millions of public and nonpublic filings.
Additionally, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found “information security control deficiencies in the SEC computing environment may jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information residing in and processed by its systems.” The report continued, “Until SEC mitigates its control deficiencies, it’s financial and support systems and the information they contain will be at unnecessary risk of compromise.”
H.R. 3973 the 2017 Market Data Protection Act, which recently passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate, is a bipartisan bill directing the SEC and others to accelerate cybersecurity risk controls to prevent future hacker attacks. This bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D, CA-30) and supported by the Financial Services Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Specifically, the 2017 Market Data Protection Act would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) operator to develop internal risk controls to safeguard and govern market data stored by those entities, market data sharing agreements, and “academic research performed at [these entities] using market data.” The Act further: a) prohibits the CAT operator from accepting market data until these controls are developed, and b) relieves CAT participants from any requirement to provide market data, during the period in which the operator is prohibited from receiving it.
- November 13, 2017 – Davidson’s Market Data Protection Act Passes House
- October 12, 2017 – Davidson's Market Data Protection Act Clears Committee, Gains Support
- October 5, 2017 – SEC Breach Prompts Davidson's Market Data Protection Act
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