Investment Management Partner Widely Quoted in Asset Management Media on Cybersecurity at the SEC

The disclosure by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a 2016 intrusion into EDGAR caused substantial concern within the asset management industry over its own cybersecurity defenses, and the protection of industry data. The breach was widely covered in the media, with reports on the SEC’s Sept. 20 press release and statement from Chairman Clayton, and subsequently on Mr. Clayton’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Sept. 26. Ignites, BoardIQ, Fund Action, Pensions & Investments, Compliance Week, Compliance Reporter and Fund Operations reported on the breach, Chairman Clayton’s statement and his remarks in the Senate, all providing insights from investment management partner Paulita Pike.

“Mr. Clayton’s openness about the cyber breach during this testimony is encouraging,” Ms. Pike stated in Fund Action. In Pensions & Investments Ms. Pike outlined that “The disclosure (by Mr. Clayton) lets people begin to know what's happening at the SEC on cybersecurity and how the SEC will communicate with those it regulates on issues related to breaches and its own cybersecurity.” “The bar is higher for regulators like the SEC that offer entities subject to their rules no choice but to comply with data reporting demands, particularly since some of the data they are required to produce comes from third parties — individuals — who didn’t choose to provide that information to the agency,” Ms. Pike noted in Ignites. Discussing how the intrusion should be viewed by mutual fund boards, in BoardIQ Ms. Pike detailed that “The landscape continues to change as everybody continues to understand what is involved in data attacks, data protection and cybersecurity…so boards have been following the lead of the SEC whenever the SEC comes out with new pronouncements on the issue. […] They’re meeting with chief risk officers, chief information officers. Cybersecurity and data security is a prevalent issue in the boardroom.”