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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteMoody’s 2024 cyber-risk heat map placed telecommunications, airlines and some power-generation utilities in its “very high” category, according to reports published in November 2024. Telecom had moved up from “high” in the prior, 2022 map. Moody’s attributed higher sector scores broadly to expanding digital exposure and below-average cyber-risk mitigation—not to a change in companies’ credit ratings.
What changed between Moody’s 2022 and 2024 maps?
CyberScoop reported that Moody’s assessed 71 global sectors in its 2024 heat map and compared their profiles with 2022. TelecomTV reported that telecommunications moved from “high” in the 2022 map to “very high” in 2024, and that Moody’s did not publish a 2023 edition. CyberScoop’s November 12, 2024 report and TelecomTV’s November 18, 2024 report also describe airlines and some power-generation utilities as very high risk.
The available reports do not provide a complete sector-by-sector transition table. They also distinguish newly elevated power-generation projects from utilities that were already in the very-high category, so the change should not be read as applying to every utility subsector.
Why did the sectors move into the highest category?
Moody’s explanation, as reported by CyberScoop, centers on two broad factors:
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- More digitization: A larger digital footprint can create more potential exposure to cyberattacks.
- Weaker mitigation: Below-average cyber-risk mitigation practices can increase a sector’s assessed risk.
Steven Libretti, assistant vice president for Moody’s Ratings, told CyberScoop that these factors were driving higher scores across sectors. For airlines, CyberScoop also reported Moody’s concern about the industry’s critical reliance on software and the potentially extensive consequences of technology failures.
What does “very high cyber risk” mean?
It is a category in a sector-level cyber-risk heat map. It is not a credit rating assigned to an airline, telecom company, utility, or debt instrument. Moody’s describes its credit-rating business separately on its official ratings site; the heat-map category should not be translated into a Moody’s credit-rating grade, a prediction of default, or a credit-rating action.
CyberScoop reported that sectors in the very-high category accounted for $7.1 trillion of debt. That figure is reported through CyberScoop; the underlying heat-map document was not available in the sources cited here for independent verification.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the heat map does not establish
The contemporaneous reports identify the category changes and broad drivers, but do not provide the full heat-map methodology, scoring weights, or a complete list of sector transitions. They therefore do not support ranking particular companies, calculating an individual firm’s cyber risk, or concluding that every business in a named sector has the same exposure.
For readers assessing a specific company, the sector label is context rather than a company-level verdict. The reports do not establish how Moody’s assessed an individual company’s controls or security posture.
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