Rating agencies have issued a warning about the increased cyber risk that public finance issuers in the U.S. could face following the recent bombing campaign by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. Fitch Ratings, in a report published on Monday, warned that hacktivists, state-sponsored groups, and lone actors could target critical infrastructure and public entities in response to this conflict.
Iran against Trump
Omid Rahmani, director de Finanzas Públicas en EE. UU. para Fitch Ratings, highlighted that, historically, municipal and local entities have not received the same robust investment in cybersecurity, making them more vulnerable. Threats can vary from distributed denial-of-service attacks to financially motivated intrusions, aimed at disrupting the operations of these entities.
The risk of retaliatory cyber activity has increased with rising geopolitical tensions related to Iran, warned experts from Moody’s, noting that attacks on critical infrastructure providers such as electric or water companies could have severe effects on the supply chain and public trust in services. A recent report revealed that 12% of large U.S. companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion are the most vulnerable to attacks related to Iran.
In addition, there are concerns about the possible challenge of insurance policies by insurance companies due to war exclusions, which could mean that the costs arising from the attacks fall directly on corporate balances. With the start of the bombing campaign on February 28, experts have reported on attempts to exploit critical infrastructure, including industrial control systems in Israel and surveillance cameras in Gulf countries.