As a whole, 2018 was a good year for the cybersecurity industry. While that’s great news for businesses, it’s not-so-great news for consumers, as a significant number of data breaches and cyber-attacks put millions of people’s personal information at risk.
While it’s difficult to predict what will happen in 2019, we can guess that cyber criminals will find new ways to carry out their dirty work. Some experts suggest that criminals may use malicious chat bots to interact with consumers and manipulate them into giving personal information.
Cybersecurity goes beyond using a virtual private network (VPN), like Goose VPN. Today, cybersecurity companies are focused on cloud-based security and preventing attacks using well-known strategies. Cyber security providers will have to evolve and innovate to overcome new challenges, particularly because traditional security measures aren’t effective on the cloud.
But these three cyber security stocks are poised to gain from these trends.
1. Varonis Systems
When it comes to cyber security, much of the focus is on external attacks. But companies also face threats from within their own walls. To help protect themselves from insider attacks, many corporations are turning to Varonis Systems (NASDAQ:VRNS).
Varonis analyzes user behavior and activity. If things seem out of the ordinary, like unusually large volumes of data being downloaded, the system will send an alert.
The system can also limit data breach damage by locking down sensitive data.
Performance-wise, Varonis’ customer base is quickly growing. In the third quarter, the company added 188 new customers, which drove revenue 25.7% higher to $67.1 million. The company expects revenue to rise by 26% to $271 million for the year.
Varonis still has plenty of room for growth, as its revenue base accounts for just a small portion of a $15-billion market.
2. Okta
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) provides enterprise-level identity management services to more than 5,600 businesses. The company manages and secures digital access rights to their network, such as login processes, passwords and employee on-boarding.
Okta’s single sign-on system makes it easy for customers to give users access to the right apps when they need them.
The company’s services are in high demand. In the third quarter, revenue soared 58% year over year to hit $105.6 million. The company is not profitable yet, but it produced positive free cash flow for the first time in the third quarter.
Okta is targeting 30% annual revenue growth over the coming five years.
3. Zscaler
Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) provides cloud-based protection that allows users to securely connect to their applications from anywhere and using any device. The company has 100 data centers across six continents, with users in 192 countries. Each day, Zscaler protects against 100 million threats.
The company is seeing rapid growth. Revenue soared 59% in the first quarter of 2019, hitting $63.3 million. Zscaler expects full-year revenue to fall between $268 million and $272 million.
