Under what specific conditions does the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) primarily protect whistleblowers?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) primarily protects whistleblowers who report reasonably perceived violations of federal securities laws, accounting fraud, or any conduct that could potentially harm investors in publicly traded companies. SOX provides protection to employees of these companies, as well as employees of contractors, subcontractors, and agents of these companies, who report such violations to their supervisors, internal compliance departments, or government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Act prohibits publicly traded companies from retaliating against whistleblowers by firing, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing, or discriminating against them in any other way because they reported suspected wrongdoing. To be protected under SOX, the whistleblower must have a reasonable belief that a violation has occurred or is about to occur. The protection extends to both internal reporting within the company and external reporting to regulatory agencies.