In recent years, the SEC has been focused on cybersecurity. It has issued risk alerts, conducted examinations and provided guidance about what the agency sees as widespread weaknesses in many policies and procedures to protect against cyberthreats. The SEC has now taken the next step: a few days ago, the SEC brought its first-ever enforcement action for a violation of Regulation S-P, 17 C.F.R. § 248.30(a) – known as the “Safeguards Rule” – against an investment adviser that was itself the victim of a security breach in which hackers stole customer information.… More
Tag Archives: Safeguards Rule
The SEC’s Power to Take Enforcement Action Against Cybersecurity Violators
To buttress the SEC’s initiative to assess cybersecurity preparedness in its risk alert discussed here previously , the SEC also has the power to bring enforcement actions against registered entities that fail to meet cybersecurity requisites. Specifically, the SEC may bring an enforcement action against registered entities that violate the safeguards rule of Regulation S-P (17 CFR § 248.30(a)) (commonly referred to as the “Safeguards Rule”).… More
Cracking Down: FTC Settles Claims Against Mortgage Company For Violations of FTC Safeguards Rule – Requires Information Security Program and 10 Years of Security Audits
On Tuesday, May 5, 2009, in a press release devoted largely to the FTC’s congressional testimony on peer-to-peer file sharing, the FTC announced that it had reached a settlement of its claims against James B. Nutter & Company, a mortgage company that did not implement information security measures to meet federal minimums. According to the FTC, the result of this alleged failure was that an intruder in the company’s systems sent "millions of outgoing spam emails"… More