Womack Demands SEC Block Sensitive Data from Audit Trail
Washington,
November 2, 2022
Washington, DC—November 2, 2022....Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), which has jurisdiction over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), today raised concerns with Chairman Gary Gensler about the privacy risks and national security threats associated with the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). Congressman Womack said, “A database that unnecessarily stores the personal information of millions of Americans might as well be a flaming target for hackers and foreign adversaries. The SEC should eliminate any plans to collect this sensitive data. This is fundamentally about protecting the public.” “Protecting the personal and financial information of every American investor from hackers and cyber criminals from Russia and China is of the utmost importance,” American Securities Association CEO Chris Iacovella said. “We thank Reps. Steve Womack, David Joyce, Chris Stewart, and Mark Amodei for their leadership and sending a message to the SEC that it must not collect any of this information.” The CAT is a data management platform that tracks all trade information from broker deals, trading venues, retail investments, and stock exchanges. The CAT is set to collect personally indefinable information (PII) of every American with money in the stock market in July 2024, which makes the database a prime target for foreign cyber-espionage and hacking attacks. Womack believes the most effective way to mitigate these threats is for the SEC to prohibit the collection of any PII by the CAT and make clear to financial institutions that they will not be forced to hand over the personal information of their own customers to the CAT. Read the full letter led by Congressman Womack here. Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) has represented Arkansas’s Third Congressional District since 2011. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. ### |
