Baystreet staff provided a detailed write up of the booming cybersecurity industry in an article last week. One needs only to look at the intense political warfare between the two major U.S. parties to see how important cybersecurity is becoming in our modern world.
Cyberattacks do not just have the potential to deal massive damage to companies like Equifax Inc., the victim of a massive data breach that occurred in the spring and summer months of 2017. The breach ultimately saw the data of more than 140 million U.S., Canadian, and U.K, citizens compromised. Equifax moved to restructure its security team and apparatus, and the costs are already reaching $100 million so soon after the incident.
Government entities are also rightly concerned about the destabilizing potential of cyberwarfare. Government cyber spending has jumped from $7.5 billion in 2007 to $28 billion in 2016 according to budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. This number is expected to steadily rise into the 2020s.
The ETFMG Prime Cyber-Security ETF (NYSE:HACK) gives investors the opportunity to dive into this fast-growing industry. The ETF has climbed 12.6% in 2017 and 7.3% year over year. Some of its top holdings include the content delivery and cloud services company Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), as well as the Taiwanese software multinational Trend Micro Incorporated.
This ETF still comes at a reasonable price considering the explosive potential of the industry over the coming years and decades. Investors should take a serious look at including this ETF in any long-term growth portfolio.
