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The Cybersecurity Boom

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The Cybersecurity Boom

How Investors Can Play the Global Explosion in Cyberattacks and Cybercrime

Thanks to Purefunds Cybersecurity ETF (HACK) for helping us put this together.

In 1983’s WarGames, a young Matthew Broderick unwittingly hacks into military central computer while searching for video games and almost inadvertently starts World War III. This film is classified on IMDB as in the “Sci-fi, Thriller” genres.

While the prospects of cybercrime and cyberterrorism are certainly thrilling (and scary), the descriptor of “Sci-fi” for the movie may no longer be necessary. In the last calendar year, there’s been dozens of high-profile cybersecurity incidents that are not a far cry from the geopolitical near-miss in WarGames.

The United States government and the country’s largest bank have both had serious security intrusions as of recent. This summer the United States Government revealed it had over 20 million records stolen by hackers allegedly based in China. Just as concerning, it was exactly one year ago that J.P. Morgan was compromised with records stolen from over 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The company has now vowed to spend $250 million a year in preventing such incidents.

Most recent of all is this week’s hack of the popular adultery site Ashley Madison. The leak of sensitive information on potentially 37 million customers isn’t a potential geopolitical concern as the above cases, but it does have business implications: the website’s plan to raise $200 million in an IPO in London has now been kiboshed for the foreseeable future.

If big organizations like Sony, Target, Google, and Home Depot can’t do anything to stop cybersecurity incidents, what chance do the rest of us have?

And that’s the problem with cyberattacks. Detected incidents have skyrocketed over the last five years, soaring from 3.4 million to 42.8 million from 2009-2014, and they now cost the global economy an estimated $400 billion a year. Every day these incidents happen on a small scale, but today’s hacking technology and sophistication allows for much more. Exploitation of big cybersecurity vulnerabilities could cause financial chaos, destroy reputations of entire companies, expose business and state secrets, and even shut down moving vehicles remotely. This is not science fiction. This is reality – and we haven’t even gotten into the hypothetical potential damage that hackers could cause if they had even more resources or resolve. People’s lives and money are at stake.

Systems are more sensitive and hyperconnected than ever before, and hackers are deploying more sophisticated tactics to take advantage of them for personal or organizational gain. Luckily, there is also an entire industry of engineers, programmers, analysts, designers, cryptographers, and other professionals trying to build the walls and moat around the castle. Cybersecurity, as we depict in this infographic, is a booming industry with hundreds of companies scrambling to protect us from having intellectual property, health records, financial information, and other vital data compromised.

That’s why by 2020, the cybersecurity market is expected to be valued at $170.2 billion, which implies a 9.8% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) from today’s estimate of $106.3 billion. Businesses and governments are spending more on cybersecurity: even the Whitehouse announced this year that in its 2016 fiscal budget that it would aim to spend $14 billion on additional measures. Fifteen years ago, cybersecurity was only a blip on the US government’s radar at $938 million in spending.

The private sector is in the same boat, as 69% of business executives see cyberattacks as a threat to their growth. This is a fair statement since Verizon estimates in its 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report that the average cost of a cyberattack to a business ranges between $475,000 to $9 million depending on the number of records stolen.

Among the companies that are benefiting from the surge in cybersecurity spending include those building firewalls, secure servers, routers, anti-virus software, and malware detection tools. Firms that specialize in consulting and solving related security problems are also getting plenty of interest. Investors can potentially profit from this sector as well by identifying companies and funds that will gain from booming activity and spending in the sector.

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Mapped: Internet Download Speeds by Region

North America and East Asia have the speediest internet.

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Map illustrating median download speeds in each global region.

Mapped: Internet Download Speeds by Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In today’s fast-paced world, internet speed isn’t just a convenience—it’s the driving force behind how we work, play, and connect.

In this map, we illustrate median download speeds in each global region, based on data from the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023.

North America and East Asia Have the Speediest Internet

According to the World Bank, download speeds in high-income countries increased significantly between 2019 and 2023, while speeds in lower-income countries stagnated.

As of 2022, North America and East Asia have the speediest internet.

RegionMedian mobile download speed (Mb/sec)Median fixed broadband download speed (Mb/sec)
East Asia & Pacific90171
Europe & Central Asia4485
Latin America & the Caribbean2674
Middle East & North Africa3636
North America83193
South Asia2743
Sub-Saharan Africa1615

This difference in broadband speeds can mainly be attributed to investment.

In 2020, nearly 90% of global telecommunication investment came from East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and North America. These regions not only concentrate the highest-income population but also the top technology hubs.

Meanwhile, low- and middle-income regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for less than 10% of total investment.

Most of the investment is directed towards fiber optic and 5G mobile networks. According to the mobile industry association GSMA, mobile operators alone are projected to invest more than $600 billion between 2022 and 2025, with 85% of the total allocated for 5G.

In 2023, broadband speeds in high-income countries were 10x faster for fixed connections, and 5x faster for mobile connections compared to those in low-income countries.

Fixed broadband connections, which provide high-speed internet to residences or businesses, reached 38% of the population in high-income countries. In comparison, fixed broadband penetration was only 4% of the population in lower-middle-income countries and almost zero in low-income countries.

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