Washington D.C. –In reaction to the hacking allegations that have been made against accounts on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official account on X which was previously referred to under the name Twitter, U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) is a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs issued a statement in response to her concern.
“Congress as well as the American citizens deserve to know the truth about the recent hacking of the SEC official accounts. This hack not only expose sensitive information gathered by the SEC however, the hackers also caused a serious market disruption through tweets that contained false information about the acceptance of Bitcoin ETFs that are spot-based. Cyber vulnerabilities of this kind are the primary reason for why the SEC should not continue to push rulemakings forward that are a serious risk to Americans with personal data. This incident further confirms my concerns and is an urgent wake-up call. The SEC must be serious about cybersecurity, and that includes taking down its Consolidated Audit Trail and cyber disclosure rules,” said Senator Britt.
The incident that was at issue was reported on January 9, 2024, when the official SEC X account announced that it had approved Bitcoin Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs) that would be included on the authorized U.S. securities exchanges. This announcement triggered an abrupt increase in the value of Bitcoin. However the SEC has since retracted its statement in the wake of a hacking attack on the Commission’s accounts. In less than 24 hours it was the time that the SEC has officially affirmed its acceptance of the listing of Bitcoin ETFs in U.S. securities exchanges.
Pe Senator Britt this particular incident caused confusion on the market, a dramatic shift in the price of Bitcoin as well as a breach of sensitive data collected from the SEC. The incident highlighted the weaknesses in cybersecurity at the SEC, especially at an era where the Commission is looking to obtain more personal data that is sensitive from investors.
Senator Britt together with Senator John Kennedy (R-La. ) earlier sent an open letter in the direction of Government Accountability Office in October 2023, asking for an investigation into the potential threats, constitutional concerns, and privacy issues that the SEC has raised through its Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The CAT monitors transactions across American markets and gives regulators access to the investor’s personal identifiable data and trade activities.
Senator Britt is also a cosponsor of Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act that aims to prevent the SEC from making brokers submit the personally identifiable information of investors to the CAT.
In December 2023 In December 2023, the SEC approved the new cybersecurity rule disclosures. It requires companies impacted by a cyber-security breach to provide detailed disclosures within 4 business days. Senator Britt expressed her concerns over the new rule, saying that it creates a burdensome and unflexible reporting system that makes markets less secure because it limits companies in their ability to respond to cyberattacks or events and possibly opening the way to threats to national security from malicious actors.
