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Cyber-attacks and stock market activity

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  • Tosun, Onur Kemal

Abstract

I study how financial markets react to unexpected corporate security breaches in the short and the long-term. The main results show that daily excess returns drop, trading volume increases due to selling pressure, and liquidity improves upon the public disclosure of first-time corporate hacking events. The evidence from the search frequency in Google suggests that such short-lived market reaction is due to increasing investors' attention. Cyber-attacks affect firms' policies in the long run, up to five years after the security breach announcement. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that security breaches represent unexpected negative shocks to firms' reputations.

Suggested Citation

  • Tosun, Onur Kemal, 2021. "Cyber-attacks and stock market activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:76:y:2021:i:c:s1057521921001319
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101795
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Corbet, Shaen & Goodell, John W., 2022. "The reputational contagion effects of ransomware attacks," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    2. Peng, Jin & Zhang, Haofei & Mao, Juan & Xu, Shouhuai, 2023. "Repeated data breaches and firm value," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    3. Daniel Celeny & Loic Mar'echal, 2024. "Cyber risk and the cross-section of stock returns," Papers 2402.04775, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    4. Michele Costola & Michael Donadelli & Luca Gerotto & Ivan Gufler, 2022. "Global risks, the macroeconomy, and asset prices," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2357-2388, November.
    5. Kemal Tosun, Onur & Eshraghi, Arman & Muradoglu, Gulnur, 2023. "Learning financial survival from disasters," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Daniel Celeny & Loic Mar'echal & Evgueni Rousselot & Alain Mermoud & Mathias Humbert, 2024. "Prioritizing Investments in Cybersecurity: Empirical Evidence from an Event Study on the Determinants of Cyberattack Costs," Papers 2402.04773, arXiv.org.
    7. Goodell, John W. & Corbet, Shaen, 2023. "Commodity market exposure to energy-firm distress: Evidence from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    8. Tosun, Onur Kemal & Eshraghi, Arman, 2022. "Corporate decisions in times of war: Evidence from the Russia-Ukraine conflict," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    9. Tosun, Onur Kemal, 2022. "Do investors react differently? Evidence from hospitality sector during the covid-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    10. Gilles Hilary & Vanessa Serret, 2023. "Governance and Digital Transformation [Gouvernance et transformation numérique]," Post-Print hal-04380300, HAL.
    11. Bernales, Alejandro & Beuermann, Diether W. & Cumming, Douglas & Olid, Christian, 2023. "Blue-Collar Crime and Finance," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Uddin, Md Hamid & Mollah, Sabur & Islam, Nazrul & Ali, Md Hakim, 2023. "Does digital transformation matter for operational risk exposure?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    13. Wang, Heng Emily & Wang, Qin Emma & Wu, Wentao, 2022. "Short selling surrounding data breach announcements," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    14. Loic Mar'echal & Alain Mermoud & Dimitri Percia David & Mathias Humbert, 2024. "Measuring the performance of investments in information security startups: An empirical analysis by cybersecurity sectors using Crunchbase data," Papers 2402.04765, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Security breaches; Cyber-attacks; Market activity; Long-term impact; Investors' attention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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