Today, the Commission approved amendments regarding login, password, and other account access protocols for filers and other registrants using the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System, commonly known as EDGAR. I am pleased to support these amendments because they enhance EDGAR’s security and further improve filers’ access to the EDGAR system.
The public and the SEC long have benefitted from the EDGAR electronic filing system. Today, EDGAR is a rich and accessible library for investors and filers alike. Unlike streaming platforms and other subscription platforms, EDGAR is available to the public free of charge. I think it’s one of the great innovations of the SEC.
A lot has changed in the three decades since the Commission first required mandatory EDGAR filings in 1993.[1] EDGAR has lived through the rise of the internet, social media, and streaming content. We also have learned a great deal about data security and password protection in that time. To keep pace with ever-evolving markets, technology, and business models, we’ve updated EDGAR over the years. Our most recent meaningful update, though, to EDGAR login, password, and other account access protocols was more than a decade ago.
Today’s amendments are an important next step for EDGAR account access protocols. Under previous requirements, registrants had one login per company. This is like having a family passing around one shared login and password for a movie streaming app. You know where that can lead. That’s simply not the most secure system—for filers and the Commission alike—when it comes to information relating to financial disclosure. By contrast, today’s amendments further secure login protocols by requiring every person filing something into EDGAR to login with individual credentials and to use multi-factor authentication.
The SEC’s EDGAR Business Office will open to the public a beta version for filer testing and feedback, which will include a set of optional Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These APIs will help enhance how filers, including registrants and their agents, can access EDGAR, retrieve information, and submit bulk filings. Such changes promote efficiency for both filers and the Commission.
The final amendments include a number of changes in response to commenters’ feedback. For instance, the grace period for filers to perform annual confirmation was extended from two weeks to three months. Filers will have six months to prepare for compliance, rather than one month as proposed. They will continue to have six months to enroll in EDGAR using the new login protocols, as considered in the proposal, but the final amendments build in an additional three-month period to enroll before making filings after the compliance date. After that point, filers that have not enrolled would need to submit a new Form ID to make filings.
Taken together, these amendments benefit the Commission, filers, and investors alike.
I’d like to thank the SEC staff for working on this matter, including:
- Jed Hickman, Rosemary Filou, Dan Chang, Laurita Finch, Margie Marrero, Jane Patterson, Gina Pearson, Lidian Pereira, Melinda Hobbs, Meddie Brown, Freddie Ntim, Sherwin Joseph, Lisa Butler, Tayeb Quereshi, Tina Herring, Pachie Perrow in the EDGAR Business Office;
- Jessica Wachter, Oliver Richard, Charles Woodworth, Wei Liu, Ralph Bien-Aime', and Caroline Schulte in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis; and
- Bryant Morris, Peggy Kim, Joe Valerio, and Eduardo Aleman in the Office of the General Counsel.
[1] See Securities and Exchange Commission, “EDGAR Status Report” (Dec. 31, 1993). E.g.,“Three groups of mandated filers were phased onto the EDGAR system. … These three groups, along with phase-in group 1, which consisted of former Pilot system filers who began live filing on a mandatory basis on April 26, 1993 (plus a few volunteers), make up the significant test group mandated by Congress.”
