Data and information management

As climate and cybersecurity risks intensify, Jeff Lipton argues it's time for the legal community to lead a new era of municipal disclosure — tightening language, clarifying exposures, and ensuring investor confidence.

The attackers did not steal any data, but the firm had to rebuild its servers to get back into operation, said Albert Rodriguez, a manager at ImageMaster.

"If I wanted to target municipal finance, this would be a really good place for me to start," said Omid Rahmani, public finance cybersecurity lead at Fitch Ratings.

BondLink's client issuers reached over $500 billion in bond sales while working with the municipal bond platform.

Nevada is the latest public entity to be hit by a cyberattack, with officials struggling to restore services.

St. Paul, Minnesota, is recovering from a cyber attack that overwhelmed the city's defenses ahead of its Aug. 19 bond deal close.

Since the attack, many in the industry have had conversations about how to better secure transfer of funds, Vivian Altman said.

Closing is scheduled for White Lake Township, Michigan's second try at a GO bond sale after the first was interrupted by the cybertheft of bond proceeds.

While the White Lake, Michigan, township hack is the best-known and publicly disclosed cyberattack, there have been others. Some issuers and firms are reluctant to share these experiences publicly.

SEC probe relating to a cyberattack on a Michigan township's bond sale could involve looking into whether investors are getting an accurate picture of the issuer's credit risk, a former SEC enforcement attorney said.