Tech Malfunctions Accused for Destruction of Over a Year's Worth of Gensler's Communications via Tech Platforms (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been in the spotlight recently due to a data loss incident involving Chairman Gary Gensler. According to reports, the erasure of Gensler's data was a result of tech failures within the SEC's Office of Information Technology (OIT).
The incident occurred due to a poorly understood and automated policy designed to disable texting. This policy, implemented by the OIT in 2023, inadvertently led to the deletion of Gensler's data from his smartphone.
In January 2024, the OIT reported the erasure of messages sent between October 2022 and September 2023. Gensler had noticed the absence of certain SEC applications on his smartphone on Sept. 6, 2023, which prompted further investigation.
Interestingly, as of nearly a year prior to the data erasure, the OIT had not backed up Gensler's text messages. This oversight has raised questions about the agency's management of mobile devices and federal records.
In response to the incident, the SEC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a review to determine the cause of the data loss. The OIG's report revealed that OIT personnel performed a factory reset of Gensler's smartphone, resulting in the permanent deletion of the device's data.
The loss of Gensler's messages might impact the SEC's response to Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests. As of now, there are no publicly available search results detailing specific recommendations made to strengthen mobile phone design and federal records access within the SEC following the incident.
However, the OIG has provided a series of recommendations to strengthen the agency's management of mobile devices and federal records. These recommendations aim to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
While the full impact of this data loss is yet to be determined, it serves as a reminder of the importance of proper data management and backup procedures in government agencies. The SEC, like many organisations, is learning from this incident and taking steps to ensure such an incident does not happen again.
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