On March 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted a roundtable discussion on various cybersecurity topics. Participants at the roundtable included representatives from the federal government, self-regulatory organizations, investment advisers, other financial institutions, academics and law firms. The roundtable underscores the SEC’s increased focus on cybersecurity-related issues for SEC-registered entities.

Among other things, panelists discussed the growing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks and their serious threat to capital markets and the overall market economy. Panelists acknowledged that preventing and responding to cyberattacks was difficult, given the evolving nature of the threat and technological landscape. The Cybersecurity Framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidelines on how to build cybersecurity infrastructure.

The SEC has also begun to conduct cybersecurity exams for broker-dealers, as announced in the SEC’s Examination Priorities for 2014.

For information on the roundtable, click here.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is available here.

The SEC Examination Priorities for 2014 are available here.