United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-12-21 monographic deposited born digital 18 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-95-22 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22 P0b002ee1803a2560 f:ai95022 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22 AIMD-95-22 Securities regulation Brokerage industry Internal audits Independent regulatory commissions Systems management Emergency preparedness Computer software Computer security Information systems National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System Letter Report AIMD Outages experienced by the National Association of Securities Dealers' (NASD) automated quotation and trading systems during July and August 1994 were caused by unrelated software and hardware malfunctions. These outages had little effect on individual investors and derivatives markets but hampered the ability of broker-dealers to perform the best and the most efficient trades. Although NASD takes the reliability of its systems very seriously, these recent outages and malfunctions point to areas, such as testing, in which further improvement is needed to prevent recurrences. In addition, although NASD has a separate backup computer facility in case of emergencies, control weaknesses at this facility and in NASD's contingency and disaster plan could make it hard for NASD to recover quickly when emergencies occur. Finally, NASD's oversight of systems is limited by the fact that its internal audit function generally does not include the review of market systems in the scope of its work. Compounding these problems is the fact that although the Securities and Exchange Commission has strengthened oversight of market automation in such areas as contingency planning, gaps exist in its oversight program. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22.pdf GAO/AIMD-95-22 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-22 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-95-22; Financial Markets: Stronger System Controls and Oversight Needed to Prevent NASD Computer Outages; Securities regulation Brokerage industry Internal audits Independent regulatory commissions Systems management Emergency preparedness Computer software Computer security Information systems National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System