Page 13 - GCN, August/September 2017

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is turning to machine-learning algorithms to help analyze orders and transactions by broker-dealers. Later this year, market exchanges will begin reporting all transactions through a system called the Consolidated Audit Trail, which will collect data over the next two years.
“This will result in data about market transactions on an unprecedented scale,” says Scott Bauguess, acting director of the
Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the SEC, speaking in June 2017 at OpRisk North America 2017. “And making use of this data will require the analytic methods we are currently developing to reduce the enormous datasets into usable patterns of data.”
Machine learning and similar tools “are a resource for human decision-makers, who can now leverage a much broader knowledge base while minimizing human biases in their input,” states the NITRD report.
SPONSORED CONTENT
DATA ANALYTICS IN THE FIELD
As agencies become more familiar with the capabilities of advanced analytics, they are beginning to explore a wider range of potential applications. Here are some current initiatives demonstrating the different ways data can help agencies solve their most pressing problems.
THE FIELD: Drone surveillance
AGENCY: Department of Defense
THE PROBLEM: The growing number of drones is overwhelming analysts with observational data.
THE SOLUTION: The Algorithmic Warfare Cross Functional Team (aka Project Maven) is augmenting existing data analytic capabilities with machine learning.
THE FIELD: Local law enforcement AGENCY: Iowa City
THE PROBLEM: Data from law enforcement, health care, and jail services was siloed, making it difficult to identify strategies for helping repeat offenders stay out of the system.
THE SOLUTION: The Data-Driven Justice Initiative makes it possible for users in different agencies to gain a more holistic understanding of the needs of repeat offenders. Data is shared in compliance with privacy laws and regulations.
THE FIELD: Critical infrastructure protection AGENCY: Los Alamos National Laboratory
THE PROBLEM: Solar storms have the potential to wreak havoc with the nation’s critical infrastructure, such as satellites, communications networks, and the power grid.
THE SOLUTION: Los Alamos has released 16 years’ worth of satellite sensor data, which will make it possible to develop more accurate models for predicting space weather.
THE FIELD: National parks
AGENCY: The National Park Service
THE PROBLEM: NPS is looking to gain deeper insights into usage patterns at the nation’s parks and how that aligns with the allocation of staffing and other resources.
THE SOLUTION: The agency plans to consolidate and cross-reference existing data sources—its own various reports as well as census data—to provide for easier analysis.
S-13