SEC creates cyber unit to eye firms and task force for investor protection

The Securities and Exchange Commission has created a cyber unit to target cyber-related misconduct, as well as a retail strategy task force aimed at helping and protecting individual investors. The agency said its new cyber unit will focus the enforcement division's cyber-related expertise on targeting misconduct. This includes market manipulation schemes involving false information spread through electronic and social media, hacking to obtain material nonpublic information, violations involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings, misconduct perpetrated using the dark web, intrusions into retail brokerage accounts, and cyber-related threats to trading platforms and other critical market infrastructure. (More: Edgar hack calls dramatic attention to dangers of tech and transparency) The unit has been in the planning stages for months, the SEC said, and complements the agency's other work in trying to counter cyber-related threats, which "are among the greatest risks facing investors and the securities industry," said Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC's enforcement division. The SEC said its retail strategy task force will develop "proactive, targeted initiatives to identify misconduct affecting retail investors," using data analytics and technology to identify large-scale malfeasance affecting consumers.