If you asked the President of most companies what their greatest fears are concerning their company, 2/3’s of them would say cyber-attacks is a serious threat. The reason behind the concern is if the company is hacked and the information released to the public, the stock price will fall and some consumer trust will be lost forever. How much depends on how the company responds.

In an article by Clare O’Hara of the Globe and Mail, investors should be looking at the sector of Cybersecurity because as connectivity increases and amount of data does also, cybersecurity becomes more important. A major breach of data is every CEO or Board’s worst nightmare and that is why spending on cybersecurity continues to increase and continues to be outsourced. As an investor you like it when you hear money will be spent on the companies doing cybersecurity.

The leading companies are F5 Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet Inc, Akamai Technologies, Check Point Software Technologies ltd.  One method to buy the companies is use the ETFs which mirrors the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index which tracks the performance of companies engaged in the cybersecurity segment of the technology and industrial sectors.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while the above stocks may not be household names the fact that they will have a continual payment and one that potential could increase over time makes them seem utility like. As investors you like because companies will include cybersecurity firm(s) in their annual expense and the monthly payments are wonderful for dividend investors.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.