How Cybersecurity Can Expose Issuer Vulnerabilities
Cybersecurity poses an increasing challenge for municipal issuers beyond actual risks of attacks.
The practice of protecting computer systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks can expose management, budgeting, liquidity, debt and even rating vulnerabilities.
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Public-sector ransomware attack targets in the past year included Atlanta and the San Diego school district — the latter exposing personal data of roughly 500,000 students — and two Ohio Valley Health Services & Education Corp. hospitals, including one in Wheeling, West Virginia, where ambulance service disruption affected its bottom line for two quarters.
“Since the exposures are so great, people are concerned about how the municipal bond agencies are going to deal with that, whether It’s water-related or related to other issues,” Alan Rubin, a resilience financing expert and a principal at Blank Rome LLP, said on a Bond Buyer podcast.
"How Cybersecurity Can Expose Issuer Vulnerabilities," by Paul Burton was published in The Bond Buyer on March 1, 2019.