Clifford Chance

Equifax Hack, SEC Data Breach Bring Issuer Disclosure Obligations to the Forefront

25 September 2017

The recent Equifax data breach focuses attention on the necessity of adequate disclosure by public companies of material cybersecurity-related events. Both SEC Chair Jay Clayton and Stephanie Avakian, the Co-Director of the Division of Enforcement, have made clear that they would "like to see better disclosure around [cybersecurity]" and could "absolutely" bring a cybersecurity disclosure enforcement action. In addition, the SEC's recent disclosures of its own breach will likely increase focus within the agency on its external enforcement efforts.

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