Cybersecurity is one of those important elements that all companies have 2 choices, do it inhouse or hire someone to do it. It is easier to find many examples of companies which have been hacked, the ones people might know is SolarWinds, but there are many of them out there.

In an article by Frank Bajak of the Associated Press, cyber crime affects everyone particularly the larger profitable companies. Nimble, highly skilled criminal hackers believed to operate out of Eastern Europe have hacked into companies and government agencies on 4 continents have been hacked and the victims include New Zealand’s central bank, Havard Business School, US law firm Jones Day, CSX rail compnay, Kroger supermarkets, and the Washington State’s auditor’s office.

The 2 stage mega hack in December and January of a popular file-transfer program from a Silicon Valley. This is the new problem before the hackers tried to get into the system, but now they are targeting software supply claims and 3rd party services. The software companies would issue a patch or solution to the problem and tell the world Chinese state hackers had penetrated the program.

Now days, the Russian hackers really just want you to pay money – Pay up or we leak your sensitive data on line and then customers will leave your business unless you offer them 2 years free extra services (example is Equifax).

The good news is hackers are finding it harder and harder to gain access via traditional methods as Microsoft and Apple have hardened the security of the operating system. This means the alternative is the supply chain and it works, says Mikko Hyponen, chief research officer of F-Secure.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as profitable companies it automatically makes them a target of cybersecurity and hopefully they allocate resources to protect themselves whether internally or cybersecurity firms. It is important to ask how much they spend to keep your investments safe or not declining because the company was not secure.

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