In a move to bolster record-keeping and address security vulnerabilities, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has banned the use of third-party messaging apps and texting on its employees’ work phones. This decision aligns the SEC’s internal practices with the standards it imposes on the financial industry.

Earlier this year, a security breach involving one of the SEC’s social media accounts prompted this decision. The agency has now limited access to third-party messaging applications, including SMS and iMessage texts, to reduce the risk of system compromise and enhance record-keeping, according to an SEC spokeswoman.

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Wall Street has been forced to reconsider how employees communicate on business matters using mobile phones due to this regulatory scrutiny. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is also reportedly contemplating a similar measure for its staff.

For more context, in January, Elon Musk‘s X confirmed the compromise of the SEC’s X account, attributing it to a lack of two-factor authentication.

The SEC later revealed that the fake tweet announcing the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs was the result of a “SIM swap” attack. The FBI investigated the hack, coordinating with the SEC to probe the matter.

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