Reuters | By: Sarah N. Lynch | July 27, 2017:

Wall Street’s top U.S. regulator needs to improve the way it protects its own computer networks from cyber attacks, according to a new report by a congressional watchdog office.

The 27-page report by the Government Accountability Office found the Securities and Exchange Commission did not always fully encrypt sensitive information, used unsupported software, failed to fully implement an intrusion detection system and made missteps in how it configured its firewalls, among other things.

“Information security control deficiencies in the SEC computing environment may jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information residing in and processed by its systems,” the GAO said. “Until SEC mitigates its control deficiencies, its financial and support systems and the information they contain will continue to be at unnecessary risk of compromise.”

The SEC, as Wall Street’s top regulator, houses a tremendous amount of sensitive and confidential information that it must closely safeguard to protect against identity theft or efforts by cyber criminals who might want to use the information for insider-trading or harming U.S. equity markets.

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