"While we do not explicitly incorporate cyber risk as a principal credit factor today, our fundamental credit analysis incorporates numerous stress-testing scenarios, and a cyber event could be the trigger for one of those scenarios," said Jim Hempstead, Moody’s associate managing director. "As cyber risk becomes more pervasive, it will take a higher priority within our analysis."

Though not a principal credit factor in assessing a rating, Moody's now treats cyber threat as an event risk. "Event risks" are extraordinary events that fall into the stress-testing scenarios Moody's uses for its fundamental credit analyses.

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