US SEC creates cyber and emerging tech unit to combat ‘bad actors’
The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the creation of a ‘Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit’.
The aim is to focus on ‘combatting cyber-related misconduct and protecting retail investors from bad actors in the emerging technologies space’, according to a SEC press release.
The new unit will replace the Washington DC-headquartered agency’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, whose co-chair Laura D’Allaird will lead it.
It will consist of about 30 anti-fraud specialists and attorneys from multiple SEC offices using their ‘substantial fintech and cyber-related experience’ to tackle ‘misconduct’ as it relates to securities transactions in priority areas.
Those priority areas are: fraud involving artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, blockchain and cryptoassets; use of social media, dark web and fake websites to perpetuate fraud; hacking to obtain ‘material non-public information’; ‘takeovers of retail brokerage accounts’; regulated entities’ compliance with cybersecurity rules; and fraudulent cybersecurity-related disclosures by public issuers.