WASHINGTON, DC – Today, following reports that the Federal Reserve is working with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on new safeguards to better shield Americans, financial institutions, and markets from cyber attacks, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the Banking Committee, issued the following statement:

“Cyber attacks are a serious threat to our economy and the financial system itself.  Regulators need to be proactive, and I am pleased the Fed and others are taking additional steps to ensure our financial institutions have procedures, monitoring, and controls in place to better protect customers and thwart hackers. 

“The Fed’s leadership can sharpen the focus on cybersecurity and help accelerate efforts to combat cyberfraud in the financial sector.

“Banks have state of the art security, vaults, and guards to stop robbers from holding them up or breaking in.  In the cyber sphere, they need an even greater commitment as well as high-tech systems to prevent hackers from infiltrating their systems to steal money and customer data.”

In an effort to increase transparency for investors and consumers in an age of persistent cybersecurity threats, Senator Reed introduced the bipartisan Cybersecurity Disclosure Act (S. 2410) to strengthen and prioritize cybersecurity at publicly traded companies by encouraging the disclosure of cybersecurity expertise, or lack thereof, on corporate boards at these companies.