On November 9th, the U.S. branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was unexpectedly hit by a ransomware attack. This incident disrupted some bond and securities market transactions, affecting market liquidity.
Currently, ICBC Financial Services is investigating the attack and actively working on recovery efforts. According to the investigation, hackers encrypted the organization’s systems and demanded a ransom to unlock them. However, the culprits behind the attack have not been identified yet, although some cybersecurity experts suspect the notorious Lockbit criminal group, with links to Russia, may be responsible.
This incident highlights the rarity of such attacks on major financial institutions, even though ransomware attacks have surged across various sectors in recent years. It also raises questions about the cybersecurity measures of market participants. Following this event, regulatory authorities are likely to tighten cybersecurity controls.
Despite assurances from ICBC and financial authorities that “the incident did not have any impact on the market,” the actual data tells a different story. Specifically, U.S. stocks experienced a decline in the trading session on November 9th, with the S&P 500 ending an eight-day winning streak. Dow Jones fell by 0.81%, closing at 4,347.35 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.94%, closing at 13,521.45 points. Dow Jones lost 220.33 points (equivalent to 0.65%) to reach 33,891.94 points.
The red numbers in the stock market coincide with the rise in bond yields. A lackluster auction of silver bond futures earlier failed to improve the market situation. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond increased by over 12 basis points to 4.634%, and the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond also jumped 11 basis points to 4.772%.
From the beginning of the week until now, Dow Jones has lost 0.5%, while the S&P 500 declined by 0.3%. Nasdaq Composite is the only index in the green, with a current increase of 0.3%.