SEC reveals 2016 hack that may have been used for illegal trades

WASHINGTON - The nation's top financial markets regulator has revealed that its computer system was hacked last year and that private information might have been used to make "illicit gains" through stock trades.

Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a statement posted on the agency's website Wednesday night that officials learned last month that the "previously detected" 2016 incident might have been exploited by the hackers for financial gains. The SEC has launched an internal investigation.

The intrusion into the SEC's EDGAR online database, which companies