JMP's 4 Major Trends In Cybersecurity

JMP Securities analysts recently attended the Gartner Security Summit in Maryland. JMP analyst Erik Suppiger followed up this week with a report on the key takeaways from the summit, including the four major trends that JMP identified in the cybersecurity space.

1. Threat Intelligence

The first major theme from the summit is the idea that modern security involves more than just fixing breaches. Companies want contextual information about security issues so that they can understand the cause of the issue and proactively prevent additional incidents.

2. Cloud Computing

The tidal wave of cloud computing adoption has inevitably created an exploding demand for cloud security. According to JMP, cybersecurity is seen as one of the major remaining roadblocks in the continuing adoption of cloud services. JMP believes that security vendors that have a strong cloud segment will emerge as leaders in the space in coming years.

Related Link: David Petraeus On Why Cybersecurity Is A "Big, Big Challenge" For The U.S.

3. Network Segmentation

The third major trend that JMP identified is the increasing segmentation of networks within companies. The most devastating cyber attacks tend to occur when an attacker gains access to a particular network within a company’s system and then can freely move laterally to other networks. By segmenting and isolating different networks (using firewalls, for example) companies can help limit the access that an attacker gains.

4. PAM

Finally, JMP identified a growing investment in privileged account management (PAM). Privileged accounts have been utilized by attackers in many major recent attacks, which has raised awareness of the importance of keeping them secure.

Stock Picks

After talking with representatives from more than 20 security vendors, Suppiger writes that, “Our discussions…increase our confidence that spending on next-generation security technologies is still accelerating.”

JMP’s top cybersecurity stocks are:

• Cyberark Software Ltd CYBR
• Proofpoint Inc PFPT
• Barracuda Networks Inc CUDA
• Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW