SEC hiring more cybersecurity help

WASHINGTON - Jay Clayton, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a Senate panel Tuesday that he didn't become aware of a 2016 security breach of key agency software until last month when the issue emerged as part of a separate investigation.

After he learned of the incident, Clayton said he ordered an internal review. That is when Clayton discovered that the breach may have allowed hackers to make an illegal profit trading stock, he said.

In the wake of the breach, the SEC is hiring additional personnel to aid in its cybersecurity efforts, but still need more money to dedicate to this area, Clayton said.

'Single actors dwarf the amount we have available to spent in this area,” he said.

Clayton faced some tough questions from lawmakers about the breach during his first appearance before the Senate Banking Committee.

Regulators should abide by the same, or even higher standard as the companies they regulate, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, ranking member of the committee. 'So when we learn a year after the fact that the SEC had its own breach and that it likely led to illegal stock trades, it raises questions about why the SEC seems to have swept this under the rug,” he said. 'What else are we not being told, what other information is at risk, and what are the consequences?”

But Clayton faced a mostly friendly audience with lawmakers repeatedly acknowledging that hack occurred under his predecessor.

'This bed was on fire when you laid down on it,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.