Safety Net – The Threat of Cybercrime


Safety Net – The Threat of Cybercrime

More and more aspects of our daily lives are now facilitated by technology and online applications. This brings a great many advantages, but it also brings threats. The trove of data, personal information and financial transactions that are now stored and processed online have become a juicy target for cyberattacks.

 

Malicious actors out there range from individuals trying to steal your bank account details so they can “urgently wire you the $46.7 million your sadly deceased aunt you never knew you had has left you”, to hugely sophisticated, state-sponsored attacks designed to wreak havoc with large companies or national infrastructure.

 

The online world is becoming an ever more dangerous place and, as the chart below shows, cybercrime is growing at a rapid rate. Alarmingly so in the UK, in fact, which has the highest density of cybercrime per number of users globally. Yikes!  

cybercrime-expected-to-skyrocket-chart.jpeg

 

Cyberattacks can be hugely costly for companies, causing operational, reputational and financial damage. Microsoft, the world’s largest company by market cap and at the cutting edge of technology, was targeted recently, with hackers managing to steal emails and documents from senior individuals in the company. Microsoft spends billions on cybersecurity, so if it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone.

 

To give you some idea of how bad the financial repercussions can be, in 2019 US consumer credit reporting agency Equifax was smacked with a $700 million fine for failing to adequately protect personal information from hackers who accessed its systems. Similarly, T-Mobile settled a lawsuit for $500 million following a cyberattack in 2021 that exposed 76 million people’s personal data. Clearly, these are not trivial amounts and are likely to sharpen the mind of any chief executive. Spending on cybersecurity is no longer seen as discretionary and it has created a structural growth opportunity for the cybersecurity industry in order to protect everything from our personal details to national infrastructure.

 

That’s where firms like CrowdStrike come in. CrowdStrike offers a cloud-based cybersecurity platform which secures endpoints, cloud workloads and data. Its products use machine learning and AI to continuously evolve, analysing data to spot the difference between normal user behaviour and malicious activity. Despite this advanced technology, it is easy to install and runs in the background without consuming a lot of processing power. All in all, it provides a step change in detecting and responding to threats, helping to keep the digital ecosystem we all depend on safe.

 

So, what does this mean from an investment perspective? Is CrowdStrike just a hyped-up tech company that doesn’t make any money? In short: no. CrowdStrike has been hugely successful in gaining market share and growing its revenue exponentially, but it has also demonstrated an ability over the past couple of years to do so profitably. It now boasts a market cap of over $75 billion, not bad for a 13-year-old company, and although it may not look ‘cheap’ on traditional valuation metrics, the structural growth of the cybersecurity market, its market leading proposition and its expanding profitability are just some of the reasons why it looks well placed to continue its success for years to come.

 

Note: Aegon AM hold positions in CrowdStrike.

 

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More about the authors

Iain Snedden Senior Investment Specialist - Equities

Iain Snedden, investment specialist, is a member of the global equities team covering ESG, income, regional and market neutral strategies.



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