- A major data breach at #2 U.S. health insurer Anthem - it involves a database containing personal info about 80M customers/employees - has put cybersecurity back in the spotlight ... along with the companies providing hardware, software, and services to protect against external attacks.
- FireEye (FEYE +5.6%), whose Mandiant endpoint protection/incident response unit has been hired by Anthem to investigate the breach, is among today's gainers. Mandiant was also hired by Sony following its breach; JPMorgan writes today FireEye/Mandiant has become the "go-to" for probing high-profile attacks.
- Other security tech plays rallying today include CyberArk (CYBR +6.5%), Vasco (VDSI-OLD +6.1%), Fortinet (FTNT +2.3%), Proofpoint (PFPT +2.6%), Imperva (IMPV +3%), Qualys (QLYS +2.7%), and Barracuda (CUDA +2.5%). The Nasdaq is up 0.7%.
- ETF: HACK
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Previously: Wilson predicts cybersecurity budgets will "explode" in 2015
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Update (3:40PM): Bloomberg reports investigators probing the Anthem breach are "pursuing evidence that points to Chinese state-sponsored hackers who are stealing personal information from health-care companies for purposes other than pure profit."