U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines is urging Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to prioritize cybersecurity of the Treasury and the entire banking system. Daines pressed Yellen in a Senate Finance hearing about whether her focus on climate change risks is coming at the expense of strengthening cyber defense in the financial sector.
Watch and download video of the exchange HERE.
“Secretary Yellen, at the most recent Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting last Friday, June 11, you outlined three key priorities: 1. vulnerabilities in nonbank financial intermediation, 2. climate change, and 3. Treasury market resilience,” said Daines.
“I am concerned that Treasury’s focus on longer term risks associated with climate change is coming at the expense of the major threat from cyberattacks that we are seeing on a near daily basis.”
Ahead of the hearing, Daines sent a letter to Yellen outlining his concerns.
“The U.S. financial system is a critical component of U.S. infrastructure. The industry holds trillions in assets and massive amounts of American citizens’ personal data. As criminals grow more sophisticated and increasingly target ransomware attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure, the federal government must ensure that its defensive capabilities match the changing threat environment,” the letter states.
Read the full letter HERE.
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Contact: Katherine McKeogh, Katie Schoettler