Top 10 Cybersecurity Stocks

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An original article by Lorimer Wilson, the Founder and Managing Editor of munKNEE.com – a site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds and your Key to making money which was first posted on TalkMarkets.com under the title Top 10 Cyber Security Stocks with 954 pageviews to date.

An Introduction

Corporate spending on cyber security is expected to grow by 14% in 2024 according to research firm, Gartner, and that’s better than most information-technology spending categories suggesting that many cybersecurity software and hardware companies should be excellent long-term buys.

What Are The Main Types Of Cyber Security?

There are 4 types, namely:

1. Network security: protects the connections between networks, including data transfers to and from the internet, and hardware like routers and switches
2. Endpoint security: protects devices like laptops, phones, and servers
3. Application security: protects software, data and access at the individual application level
4. Cloud security: protects cloud environments and data from vulnerabilities and threat actors (source)

AI’s Role In Cyber Security

AI makes it a perfect value addition technology for cyber security because it is fundamentally a complex mathematical equation that generates outputs with new data by using existing data which enables cyber security companies to train their models with data from previous attacks to create autonomous systems that can detect if an attack is ongoing based on certain readings. This provides companies and users with a critical capability in the risk management framework, as it increases their lead time for an attack and allows them to prepare mitigation and response strategies.

eSecutityPlanet.com provides a list of cyber security companies (see here) and below is a short list of the top 10 of those companies in munKNEE’s new Cybersecurity Software and Hardware Stocks Index.

1. Check Point Software (CHKP):
   • offers a multilevel security architecture of cloud, network, mobile devices, endpoints information, and IOT solutions.
2. Tenable Holdings (TENB):
   • provides organizations with a broad range of cyber security solution platforms.
3. CrowdStrike (CRWD):
   • is focused on cloud-native solutions and AI-driven threat detection and a leader in endpoint security
4. Varonis Systems (VRNS):
   • provides security products that manage network events in real time to detect any breaches or threats and expanded its support for Microsoft’s Office 365 platform in November 2023 by adding new features to protect against malicious emails.
5. SentinelOne (S):
   • is a global leader in AI security using its SentinelOne’s Singularity™ Platform to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber attacks enabling organizations to secure endpoints, cloud workloads, containers, identities, and mobile and network-connected devices with speed, accuracy and simplicity.
6. Zscaler (ZS):
   • is a cloud security company that prevents cyberthreats and data loss while providing users with fast, reliable zero trust connectivity to apps from anywhere.
7. CyberArk (CYBR):
   • enables secure access for any identity to any resource – protecting identities and critical assets by enabling Zero Trust and enforcing least privilege.
8. Palo Alto Networks (PANW):
   • • offers firewalls and other products
9. Qualys (QLYS):
   • • offers a complete set of cybersecurity products for small businesses that use Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.
10. Fortinet (FTNT):
    • provides a wide range of cybersecurity and networking solutions

Cybersecurity ETF

Individual stocks that develop security technology services could be volatile, but investing in a basket of them is a quick and easy way to get investment portfolio exposure to this critical segment of the tech sector. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG), for example, consists of 31 stocks, has an expense ratio of 0.51%.