Local governments are spending big to mop up after hacks and prevent new ones. That means peril—and opportunity—for the investors who buy their bonds. Hacks are on the rise across all industries, but the public sector’s weak protections make it an increasingly attractive target for cybercriminals. Cybercrime has left schools, hospitals and utilities from Baltimore to Los Angeles struggling to pay ransom, restore services and boost security. Finances have suffered, threatening credit ratings. The number of K-12 public schools suffering ransomware attacks almost doubled between 2021 and 2022 to almost 2,000 a year, according to a report by Emsisoft, a cybersecurity company. The growing use of technology in education, which was accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as healthcare’s reliance on IT infrastructure, has made schools and hospitals particularly vulnerable, according to analysts. “This year alone, we’ve seen a lot more of these attacks compared to prior years, and it’s a concern that has come up in almost every discussion that we have with issuers,” said Li Yang, lead analyst at S&P Global Ratings.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets
