Data breaches and hacks can impact the sensitive information of businesses, organizations and individual people. Cybersecurity helps prevent these cyberattacks, and the demand for cybersecurity is expected to soar in the coming years. In light of this trend, Australian investors are increasingly looking to invest in cybersecurity stocks — here's how you can get started.
What are cybersecurity stocks?
Cybersecurity stocks include companies that offer cybersecurity consultation for businesses and organizations. It also covers cyber recovery solutions if you’ve been a victim of a cyberattack.
Cybersecurity is the art of defending networks, systems and data from digital attacks. These cyberattacks attempt to access information without authorization. They are designed to steal or destroy data, extort money or for other criminal use.
Why invest in cybersecurity stocks?
Cybercrime costs global economies about $US 600 billion every year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. That’s an increase from the estimated worldwide losses of $US 445 billion in 2014 and isn’t predicted to decline.
The rise of cyberattacks has prompted public and private organizations to look for solutions to protect themselves from these dangerous and costly breaches. The global cybersecurity market is predicted to grow from $US 149 billion to $US 208 billion by 2023, according to a Cybersecurity Global Market Report.
With the growth of cybercrime, firms and governments will turn to cybersecurity companies for help. And since more than half the world is now online and the demand for cybersecurity is more pressing than ever, it might be a good time to invest in cybersecurity stocks.
Risks of investing in cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a newer industry that got its start with antivirus software and firewalls in the late 80s. Unfortunately, many cybersecurity stocks are based on private companies that are fairly new. And since tech moves fast in the cyber world, smaller, newer companies may struggle to keep up or incur a lot of debt.
Australian investors may also have trouble gauging winners in the cybersecurity space because the industry is based on hindsight. For example, it is only after a cyber attack that you can definitively evaluate companies and how effective they were in preventing the attack.
The cybersecurity sphere can be volatile as investors and companies are finding their footing.
Investing in the cybersecurity industry
Cybersecurity stocks cover companies that bolster cyber defenses through various services, including hardware and cloud-based software.
Company summary
Tesserent Limited provides cyber security consulting, cloud, and managed services in Australia and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Tesserent Commercial, Tesserent Federal, and Tesserent New Zealand. Its services include cyber strategy and consulting; security advisory; technical assurance and testing; and identity and access management. The company also provides managed technology services; critical products control; data and analytics; incident response; cyber education; and converged / physical security solutions. It serves utilities, transport, logistics, education, financial services, health, manufacturing, mining, construction, not for profit, professional services, public sector, retail, and technology and telecommunications industries. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Box Hill, Australia.
Historical performance
Stock information
Market capitalization: $176043392
Dividend yield: 0%
Company summary
WhiteHawk Limited operates as an online cybersecurity exchange platform of end-to-end Cyber Risk Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) products and services in Australia and the United States. The company offers products, such as Cyber Risk Radar, focuses on scalable and automated cyber-supply chain risk management; Cyber Risk Program, focuses on a mid to large company or organization's 3rd party annual or continuous cyber risk assessment with a prioritized risk mitigation to resilience plan; and Cyber Risk Scorecard, a 100% automated assessment of a company's threat landscape, priority risks, maturity, compliance, and an actionable risk mitigation strategy. It provides its solutions to deal with financial, supply chain, business client financial, and cyber risks for consulting firms, MSP's, ISP's, financial institutions, insurance groups, and associations. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Perth, Australia.
Historical performance
Company summary
archTIS Limited designs and develops products, solutions, and services for secure information sharing and collaboration in Australia and internationally. It provides Kojensi Saas platform, which enables private and public sector organizations to share and collaborate on files in a secure space; Kojensi Enterprise that allows multi-level, multi-coalition, and multi-domain collaboration on classified information; and Kojensi Field, which allows military, government, and aid and emergency service workers to collaborate in the field. The company also offers NC Protect, which provides real time, attribute-based access, sharing control, and data-centric security collaboration applications, including Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint Online and on-premises, OneDrive, Teams, Yammer, and Exchange emails, as well as Nutanix Files, Dropbox, and Windows File Shares. archTIS is headquartered in Barton, Australia.
Historical performance
Company summary
Senetas Corporation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, offers network data security solutions to businesses and governments worldwide. It operates in two segments, Product Division and Solutions Technology Division. The company's products include CN series network encryption hardware and CV series virtualized network encryption, SureDrop secure file sharing and collaboration, Votiro secure file gateway, and CM7 network encryption management products. It also offers support and maintenance services. In addition, the company provides cloud and network, data center, big data encryption, branch offices data protection, CCTV network applications, and post-quantum encryption security services. It serves commercial cyber security, government and defense, infrastructure, finance, gaming, and healthcare industries. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in South Melbourne, Australia.
Historical performance
Company summary
Findi Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides Fintech and ATM managed services. The company offers solutions in the fintech digital payment, e commerce, cyber security, crypto, analytics, web 3.0, and cloud services. It also, through its interest in TSI India, provides e-surveillance; end-to-end ATM managed services to various banks in India; power management; and payment solutions for utilities, telcos, and insurance companies in India. The company was formerly known as Vortiv Limited. Findi Limited was incorporated in 1992 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.
Historical performance
Stock information
Market capitalization: $12124128
Dividend yield: 0%
Company summary
Prophecy International Holdings Limited engages in the design, development, and marketing of computer software applications and services in Australia, the United States, Europe, and Asia. It offers Snare, a security analytics platform that converges logs from network, identity, endpoint, application, and other security relevant sources to generate behavioral alerts and facilitate rapid incident analysis, investigation, and response; and eMite, a reporting and analytics solution focused on driving operations and customer engagement from the contact/call centre and customer experience market segments, which provides chat, chat bots, CRM, service ticketing, work force management, transcription, sentiment analysis, survey, IVR, email, contact centre software, and other services. The company serves banking and finance, public sector, defence and military, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, and retail industries. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Adelaide, Australia.
Historical performance
Stock information
Market capitalization: $59268852
PEG ratio: 0
Company summary
Future First Technologies Ltd engages in building of digital platforms in Australia. The company operates through Asset Vision and EagleSoft segments. The Asset Vision segment offers a cloud-based digital platform, provides a real-time view of how assets are being inspected, maintained, and managed, as well as picture of compliance and contractual obligations. The EagleSoft segment operates a data capture platform that detects road defects and asset inventory. Future First Technologies Ltd was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.
Historical performance
Company summary
Macquarie Technology Group Limited provides telecommunication, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data center services to corporate and government customers in Australia. The company offers voice services, such as teams calling, unified communications, and video and Web conferencing services, as well as Hello, a cloud-based hosted voice system; managed mobility services and mobile device management; and cloud services, including hybrid, VMWare, and private cloud services, as well as dedicated servers, colocation, managed hosting, management tools, SD-WAN, SD-LAN, and data center extension services. It also provides data services, including Internet, fixed wireless ethernet, private IP-VPN, Cisco Meraki, business NBN, international data links, SIP trunking, SaaS enabled WAN, secure remote access, and business Ethernet access. The company was formerly known as Macquarie Telecom Group Limited and changed its name to Macquarie Technology Group Limited in May 2023. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
Historical performance
Stock information
Market capitalization: $2015008128
P/E ratio: 78.8835
PEG ratio: 0
Company summary
Sovereign Cloud Holdings Limited provides cloud services to Australian Governments and Critical National industries. The company offers sovereign cloud Infrastructure as a Service solution. In addition, it offers a cloud operating environment, which comprises compute, storage, backup, disaster recovery, SOC, and M365 Backup as a Service product, as well as workspace One that provides and endpoint management solution. Further, the company provides solutions to customers directly, as well as through various channel partners. Sovereign Cloud Holdings Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Canberra, Australia.
Historical performance
On the other hand, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allow you to invest in a spectrum of cybersecurity stocks.
Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (HACK)
Compare trading platforms
Take a look at a few trading platforms in Australia to invest in this fast-evolving industry.
Important: The standard brokerage fee displayed is the trade cost for new customers to purchase $1,000 of either Australian or US shares. Where a platform charges different fees for both US and Australian shares we show the lower of the two. Where both CHESS sponsored and custodian shares are offered, we display the cheapest option.
Bottom line
There are risks associated with investing in cybersecurity stocks. But since the demand for these services isn’t going anywhere, cybersecurity might be a profitable long-term investment.
There were 80,000 cyberattacks per day, or just shy of 30 million attacks per year, in 2018.
Cyber insurance protects your business if your data is breached. It generally helps recover compromised data, repair computer systems and restore the identities of affected users.
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