Market Data Protection

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DAVIDSON. Mr. Speaker, the Consolidated Audit Trail stands as the largest financial database in the world and ranks second in size only to the NSA's database.

The value of the sensitive information housed within this database includes Social Security numbers, broker numbers, account numbers. In fact, it is comparable to nine times the wealth that is in Fort Knox-- far more sensitive than the Equifax data, whose breach affects 143 million Americans.

Despite the enormity of wealth within this database, the unfortunate reality is that its cybersecurity is not yet adequate. The Government Accountability Office report found the SEC's systems ``at unnecessary risk of compromise.'' The CAT operator recently delayed the issuing of technical specifications, which means that industry will have just 1 month to transmit all of this market data.

Mr. Speaker, I introduced the Market Data Protection Act, which passed this House with unanimous support, to guarantee the private information of hundreds of millions of Americans transmits securely and without risk. Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to send this bill to the President's desk.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source