Davis Polk partner Robert Cohen was quoted in Cybersecurity Law Report discussing the SEC’s Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit’s (CETU) seven new priorities. The CETU was created in February 2025 and replaced the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit.

Noting that the CETU’s 2025 priorities resemble the Cyber Unit’s 2017 priorities from the first Trump administration, Robert said, “The new unit returns to some of the core day-one objectives in 2017 that wound up getting pushed aside by crypto issues in subsequent years.”

He added that the CETU will focus on classic issues, saying, “Investment scams that use the promise of the latest or trendiest industry to attract retail investors is a perennial SEC enforcement issue.”

As more companies begin using AI, the article notes that the SEC will likely bring more AI washing cases in coming years. However, Robert noted, “There would need to be strong evidence of fraud and a real intent to deceive about something that was clearly material to investors” for an AI washing case to move forward.

Discussing the use of examinations to gain feedback about governance, Robert pointed out that the examiners “see companies’ practices across the industry and can see what the norms are for firms, and what practices are outliers.”

“There’s a good chance that the Commission’s leaders will see examinations as a collaborative mechanism to help the industry identify areas where there might be room for improvement or enhancements,” he continued. “Companies should try to have some engagement with the examiners about what the examiners are seeing across the industry. The registrant may have an opportunity to adopt those suggestions without the threat of a big penalty or a public enforcement case.”

Companies should also “follow the risk alerts that the SEC puts out periodically” to gain AI guidance, Robert recommended.

“Six Steps to Address the SEC’s Trump Era Cyber Enforcement Priorities,” Cybersecurity Law Report (April 9, 2025)

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