The U.S. is no stranger to hacking and ransomware attacks carried out by foreign agents, specifically coming from Russia. These attacks have occurred so much that many U.S. companies have shelled out millions of dollars hiring cybersecurity firms to help prevent hacking attempts. 

However, hacking attempts have slowed since Russia first invaded Ukraine, and national security officials have not pinned an official reason for the decrease yet. However, according to U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts, the recent decline isn’t an indicator that we’ll see a prolonged reduction.

Quite the opposite, in fact, security experts at both national and private sector levels warn that the frequency of ransomware attacks may again be rising.

While no official reason has been uncovered for the decrease in attacks, security officials speculate that it could be concerning the number of sanctions that the U.S. and European nations have imposed on Russia. The sweeping sanctions could have put a pin in ransomware efforts since they make it much more difficult to move money around and purchase infrastructure in more Western nations.

Another possibility is that Russia’s top hackers currently have their eyes set on Ukraine while the invasion is underway. Hackers also may have needed to relocate to escape the combat. It’s been researched that many criminal hacker groups recruit from Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe.

Regardless of the cause, hacking attempts are down right now but experts believe that any decline in any hacking activity does not indicate a full shift in the intentions of cybercriminals. 

All that being said, this represents a unique opportunity in the cybersecurity industry… 

Global spending on cybersecurity is increasing, and it’s likely to remain an industry of high growth across the next few years. Cybersecurity stocks were a red-hot area of the tech industry, but have recently been hit hard by the sell-off going on in the markets right now. Like most previously high-flying tech names right now, you can get them dirt cheap. Now, not every name will bounce back when the market decides to turn around, so how do you pick which cybersecurity stocks to pick up? 

For starters, cloud-native companies have an innate edge over other software tech companies while legacy companies have a better ability to generate profits at wider margins. Ultimately, one of the easiest ways to invest in cybersecurity names is through ETFs. 

If you go the ETF route you have a few options, there’s First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ: CIBR) which is made up of 36 cybersecurity names and is trading around $40 right now, making it quite affordable. 

There’s also Global X Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ: BUG) which is a bit younger than other cybersecurity ETFs but is made up of 31 smaller cybersecurity names and has generally outperformed other cybersecurity ETFs. 

As always, I’ll be keeping an eye out for any major developments and looking for a big tech turnaround from these lows we’re seeing right now.

To a bright future,

Ray Blanco
Chief Technology Expert, Technology Profits Daily
AskRay@StPaulResearch.com