Cybersecurity and the Digital Virtuous Circle
As much as we love to share confirming data points for our various investment themes and indices, sometimes there are just too many to be had in a short period of time for a particular one. So much so that to share all of the signals for all of our themes and indices might overwhelm some leading to a potential bout of what we refer to as “analysis paralysis.” To help avoid that, in today’s Thematic Signals+, we’re going to focus on Cybersecurity & Data Privacy.
In our view, there is little question about not only the need for cybersecurity & data privacy solutions but also their growth prospects. Underpinning this perspective is the increasing connectivity underway thanks in part to 5G but also what we at Tematica refer to as the Virtuous Circle of Digital Infrastructure and Connectivity. In short, faster data speeds and lower latency foster new applications that in turn drive the amount of data we not only consume but greater, challenging existing network capacity and resulting in not only network buildouts and densification but the development of next-generation connective technologies. While many are focused only now on 5G, we are seeing the seeds being planted for 6G, which is expected to bring about a 50X increase in network speed over 5G and bring network latency down from anywhere between 12 and 5 milliseconds (thousandths of a second) to 0.1 milliseconds, or 100 microseconds (millionth of a second). In a nutshell, if 5G is expected to drive the IoT market and enable autonomous driving, 6G will bring the kind of bandwidth needed to support fully realistic augmented and virtual reality environments. Potentially the metaverse on steroids, with applications many have yet to consider.
As we have long said, the dark side of the Virtuous Circle is it opens the door to new attack vectors by bad actors that are looking to monetize whatever data they can, however they can. To us that means as we venture forward, cybersecurity & data privacy solutions will have to evolve as companies, governments, other institutions, and people need to secure and protect themselves from the kinds of attacks that could come next. That demand will likely continue to fuel an active M&A market for cybersecurity and data privacy, which is already expected to remain rather active in 2022.
And now for those latest signals for Cybersecurity & Data Privacy we mentioned above:
“Multiple Chrome browser extensions make use of a session token for Meta's Facebook that grants access to signed-in users' social network data in a way that violates the company's policies and leaves users open to potential privacy violations.”
- Facebook is one bad Chrome extension away from another Cambridge Analytica scandal
“Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have published “Face-Mic,” the first work examining how voice command features on virtual reality headsets could lead to major privacy leakages, known as eavesdropping attacks.”
- How hackers could use popular virtual reality headsets to steal sensitive information
“Element Vape, a prominent online seller of e-cigarettes and vaping kits is serving a credit card skimmer on its live site, likely after getting hacked….With its presence across the U.S. and Canada, Element Vape sells e-cigarettes, vaping devices, e-liquids, and CBD products in both retail outlets and on their online store.”
- Warning: Popular e-cigarette store hacked to steal credit cards
“The Washington State Department of Licensing said the personal information of potentially millions of licensed professionals may have been exposed after it detected suspicious activity on its online licensing system.”
- Breach of state database may expose personal information
“The online networks of Ukraine's defence ministry and two banks were overwhelmed on Tuesday and Ukraine's information security centre pointed the finger at neighbouring Russia. "It is not ruled out that the aggressor used tactics of little dirty tricks because its aggressive plans are not working out on a large scale," the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which is part of the culture ministry, said in a statement.
- Ukraine defence ministry website, banks, knocked offline
“Google on Wednesday announced it’s adopting new privacy restrictions that will cut tracking across apps on its Android devices, following a similar move made by Apple last year that upended several firms’ advertising practices.”
- Google plans privacy change similar to Apple’s, which wiped $230 billion off Facebook’s market cap
For more on the Virtuous Circle, be sure to read Beyond 5G: What Will Be the Key Capabilities of 6G?