SEC Chair Clayton Reveals 2016 Edgar Cybersecurity Breach

In a speech on cybersecurity, SEC Chair Jay Clayton acknowledged that the SEC's own EDGAR filing system was breached by hackers in 2016. Chair Clayton explained that a "software vulnerability" in the EDGAR test filing system resulted in the exposure of nonpublic information.

Chair Clayton said that while the vulnerability was "patched promptly," the nonpublic information that was accessed may have been used as the basis of illicit trading. He explained that while the SEC detected and fixed the vulnerability in 2016, the Commission did not learn about the potential theft of data and illicit trading until August 2017. He asserted that the breach did not result in any systemic risk or exposure of personally identifiable information and that the SEC was cooperating with "appropriate authorities" to investigate the breach.