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Summary
- Cybercrimes have cost the global economy over US$ 1 trillion, said a recent McAfee study.
- At least 92 percent of companies worldwide were impacted beyond financial crisis by cybercrimes, it found.
- Stocks of cybersecurity companies such as BlackBerry (TSX:BB) and Cloudflare Inc (NYSE: NET, NET:US) have stirred interest since the report was published.
Cybercrimes have inflicted losses of over US$ 1 trillion to the world economy, which is over one per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), found a recent study released by McAfee Corp (NASDAQ: MCFE, MCFE:US). Following the report’s publication, stocks of cybersecurity companies such as BlackBerry (TSX:BB) and Cloudflare Inc (NYSE: NET, NET:US) have turned heads.
Hidden Costs of Cybercrime
McAfee conducted the study, named ‘The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime’, in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). It also found that about 92 percent of companies worldwide were impacted beyond financial crisis by cybercrimes.
The US$ 1-trillion cost is over 50 per cent higher than the US$ 600-billion losses in 2018, as was quoted in a study from that year, said the recent report.
At least two-thirds of the companies that were surveyed by McAfee said that they faced some sort of cybersecurity issue in 2019. The average cost of each such incident stood at over half a million dollars, said the report.
© Kalkine Group Image
BlackBerry Vs Cloudflare: 2 Cybersecurity Stocks
Back in July and August, information of thousands of Canadians were compromised after the Canada Revenue Agency became a target of cybercrime. Following this incident, stocks of cybersecurity giant Blackberry Limited saw a boost in demand on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
BlackBerry shares are currently near the top of the trending TSX chart among stocks with high trading activities, with a 10-day average movement volume of 9.65 million.
Stocks of the former smartphone industry giant are up about 30 per cent this year. The scrips recovered from the March lows by nearly 54 per cent in the last six months and surged about 42 per cent in December alone.
BlackBerry stocks are currently priced at C$ 10.87.
Stocks of Cloudflare Inc, on the other hand, shot up over three per cent in December so far.
While the scrips rocketed 172 per cent in the last six months, they registered a growth of over 353 per cent year-to-date (YTD).
Priced at US$ 77.35 at the moment, Cloudflare stocks gathered an average trading volume of 5.41 million in the last one month.
Amid the pandemic, business boosted for cybersecurity companies as the demand for their services rose in the new work-from-home regime. BlackBerry saw its revenue of US$ 259 million in Q2 FY21 (ending 31 August 2020) climb from US$ 244 million in Q2 FY20.
Cloudflare posted a 54 per cent year-over-year increase in its revenue of US$ 114.2 million in its third quarter ending 30 September 2020.
Stocks of both BlackBerry and Cloudflare closed in green on Friday, December 4.
