Free Republic

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security detected five “critical” cyber security weaknesses on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s computers as of January 23, 2017, according to a confidential weekly report reviewed by Reuters. The report’s findings raise fresh questions about a 2016 cyber breach into the SEC’s corporate filing system known as “EDGAR.” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton disclosed late Wednesday night that the agency learned in August 2017 that hackers may have exploited the 2016 incident for illegal insider-trading.

Wall Street’s top regulator faced questions on Thursday about its defenses against cyber criminals after admitting hackers breached its electronic database of corporate announcements and may have used it for insider trading. The incursion at the Securities and Exchange Commission struck at the heart of the U.S. financial system. The SEC’s EDGAR filing system is the central repository for market-moving information on corporate America with millions of filings ranging from quarterly earnings to statements on acquisitions. Accessing documents before they are released publicly would offer hackers a lucrative opportunity to trade on that information. The SEC has said it was...