Oppenheimer Held A Cybersecurity Party; Here's What Happened Next

Oppenheimer hosted a Cyber Security Day last Tuesday. The event featured Shawn Carpenter, Cyber Security Expert, and Paul Garrett, Chief Technology Officer, of the Ashcroft Group, a Washington, D.C.-based law and consulting firm that specializes in all areas of Homeland Security including cyber security.According to a report rolled out Thursday, Oppenheimer's analysts believe "the toxic threat landscape coupled with increased spending should bode well for security software names under coverage." Namely: Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ: CYBR), FireEye Inc (NASDAQ: FEYE), Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT), Imperva Inc (NYSE: IMPV), Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE: PANW), Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), and Splunk Inc (NASDAQ: SPLK).Below, the main takeaways from the Cyber Security Day:- As breaches intensify and get worse, security remains critical. . As a result, Oppenheimer sees planned security spending increasing by 15 percent-30 percent within the next six- to nine-months- Big data is becoming increasingly important- "Endpoint = Wild West: Endpoint protection is challenging because in today's complex digital age, it must provide sophisticated capabilities to thwart advanced threats while not degrading the endpoint's performance and functionality. Endpoints are also much more diverse to include mobile devices and devices tied to IoT. The primary weakness tied to endpoint security is that endpoints are not generally able to defend themselves."- Security automation is becoming unavoidableOppenheimer also rated all the above-mentioned companies as Outperform cases, except for FireEye, which carries a Perform rating.