As society becomes increasingly tied to the cyber world, threats of cyber attacks and the importance of cyber security becomes all the more important. Today, everything vital to our lives takes place in some form online, a trend that is only expected to continue into the future.
Cyber attacks made national and global headlines last month. Government officials were quick to bring attention to the attacks, and for the first time United States officials brought down the hammer by directly blaming the Chinese government. As expected, China denied their involvement amid a slew of evidence implicating the country.
In these attacks it is believed the United States military lost key material related to the design of a variety of advance military technologies that took billions of dollars and years to develop. Unfortunately for consumers, hackers and cyber criminals have been stepping up their game against you too. I would like to highlight a couple of companies that are well positioned to benefit from the meteoric rise in cyber threats.
For over 30 years, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) has proven itself as a global leader in cyber security through continued innovation and a deep portfolio of services designed to protect people and information in any digital environment. As of the most recent quarter, the company reported that every fortune 500 company uses Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) technology for protection. Today, the company has its hands in all aspects of cyber security, including mobility, enterprise data solutions, and the emerging cloud-based industry.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC)’s revenues are well diversified, both through differentiated product segments and geographic streams. As the world becomes increasingly mobile, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) stands to benefit. The company offers both Norton Mobile and Enterprise Mobility to its customers. These services were designed to stay up to date with the every changing mobile environment in an effort to protect customer data at all times. In addition to mobile, the company has rapidly expanded its cloud based offerings. As a result, information giants such as IBM, Oracle, SAP, HP, and Microsoft have relied on the company for their cyber protection. Consider Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) as a more diversified approach to exposure to the cyber security industry as its customers include the everyday user, large organizations, and government affiliated agencies.
Lets take a look at another major player in the cyber security industry, Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE), the creator of intelligent cyber security solutions. Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE), like Symantec, targets large organizations and government agencies as potential clients. The company offers its clients a basket of options including network security and malware defense products. Recently, the company has focused it efforts on malware protection to differentiate itself from competitors. A recent press release from the company announced that Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE)‘s Advanced Malware Protection solutions are the only offerings that add a continuous capability to its malware blocking, going beyond point-in-time detection to confirm an infection, trace its path, analyze its behavior, remediate its targets and report on its impact regardless of when a file is determined to be malware. This technology will allow consumers to quickly determine the extent of the problem and the steps necessary to regain security. Going forward, as more companies aim to defend against malware, Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE) stands to capture this business. Analysts as of late have gotten behind the company, and it is now expected that Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE) will grow earnings at rates over 20% for the next five years.
Wrap-Up
As cyber security becomes increasingly important and necessary in today society both Symantec and Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE) are in unique positions to benefit. Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) provides an impressive list of customers mobile, enterprise, and cloud security solutions to meet a variety of needs. As mobile and cloud technology expands, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC), with its deep product portfolio, is in a good position to capture market share in the years ahead. Sourcefire is a market leader in both network security technology and malware protection solutions.
The article Finding Strength in Security originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Nathaniel Matherson.
Nathaniel Matherson has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Sourcefire. Nathaniel is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
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