Cyber Security Protection Firms

[eytonxav]

Which company is apt to come out on tops in terms of providing cyber security protection for enterprise, government and infrastructure type systems. Just seems like something that has not received the attention it should have for many years now, so given these latest hacks, you'd think the investing opportunities would improve over the next several years.

 

[target2019]

Cisco has my vote.

 

[Car-Guy]

Cisco has my vote.

If you ever go to an IT security conference, (e.g. SANS, RSA, Blackhat/Defcon, Infosec, etc) I wouldn't say that to loud.

 

[rodi]

Anyone but whoever Scripps Healthcare uses... A local hospital/healthcare system that has been hacked and is crippled. Most surgeries canceled, turning away from the ER to other hospitals... They have been cryptic about whether it's ransomware - but they have been down for 10 days... not good for one of the larger hospital & healthcare systems in the county.
https://healthitsecurity.com/news/scripps-health-ehr-patient-portal-still-down-after-ransomware-attack

 

[harley]

I've been out of the field for 15 years now, since I FIREd. But I keep up a little, so take it for what it's worth. I think for Enterprise security IBM may be the best bet. Cisco is definitely in play. Sapphire is a good company too. But if you're trying to pick the winner it's a roll of the dice.

 

[target2019]

If you ever go to an IT security conference, (e.g. SANS, RSA, Blackhat/Defcon, Infosec, etc) I wouldn't say that to loud.

I'd have no problem expressing my opinion. Cisco is big and boring. Geeks fall in love with the latest, like Solarwinds. The lesson is that everything fails, all is vulnerable. What other company has the history and infrastructure to respond to the events mentioned by OP?

 

[Car-Guy]

I'd have no problem expressing my opinion. Cisco is big and boring. Geeks fall in love with the latest, like Solarwinds. The lesson is that everything fails, all is vulnerable. What other company has the history and infrastructure to respond to the events mentioned by OP?

Cisco, is a lot more than big, they are huge and then some...Take a drive down Tasman drive in San Jose (e.g. the heart of silicon valley IMO) and you'll figure that out real qucik. Building after building after building and most of them are Cisco buildings. They absolutely dominate the router and switch market and "play" in just about every other area of IT networking, including security. They just are not recognized as a premier IT security company, in the IT security industry. Still a lot (more than a lot) of niche players out there today that need to be integrated in today's enterprise networks to have the best layered security models/designs. IMO, Cisco "could" own the security market too if they wanted too. Just not today by a long shot!

 

[eytonxav]

Cisco, is a lot more than big, they are huge and then some...Take a drive down Tasman drive in San Jose (e.g. the heart of silicon valley IMO) and you'll figure that out real qucik. Building after building after building and most of them are Cisco buildings. They absolutely dominate the router and switch market and "play" in just about every other area of IT networking, including security. They just are not recognized as a premier IT security company, in the IT security industry. Still a lot (more than a lot) of niche players out there today that need to be integrated in today's enterprise networks to have the best layered security models/designs. IMO, Cisco "could" own the security market too if they wanted too. Just not today by a long shot!

If Cisco goes after that market, they will buy another company like a CrowdStrike or its ilk. I am just wondering more about some of those type companies than the behemoths like Cisco and IBM.

 

[Car-Guy]

If Cisco goes after that market, they will buy another company like a CrowdStrike or its ilk. I am just wondering more about some of those type companies than the behemoths like Cisco and IBM.

I often wondered (back in the day) why Cisco didn't go after the security market in a big way...(They have the money) Still wonder why I guess, but I'm out of the loop these days. I've talked to many of their senior folks over the years and rarely did they mention (or get excited) much about security.

As far as all the smaller top tier security companies I really don't know who will "grow" or be bought, acquired, or even around in five more years. I'd be purely guessing like the rest of us.... There's a few I like, but that and 5 dollars will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

 

[target2019]

I often wondered (back in the day) why Cisco didn't go after the security market in a big way...(They have the money) Still wonder why I guess, but I'm out of the loop these days. I've talked to many of their senior folks over the years and rarely did they mention (or get excited) much about security.

As far as all the smaller top tier security companies I really don't know who will "grow" or be bought, acquired, or even around in five more years. I'd be purely guessing like the rest of us.... There's a few I like, but that and 5 dollars will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

They do go after security continuously, through acquisition:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about...ice/acquisitions/acquisitions-list-years.html

Anytime they strayed from the core, it hurt them. They're big into partnerships, and seem to stay away from expanding into areas that might bring too much regulatory attention.

 

[Car-Guy]

They do go after security continuously, through acquisition:


Anytime they strayed from the core, it hurt them.

Agree with that but more often than not they seem to "neuter" many of the companies/technologies they buy. Sometimes I think they bought some companies just to eliminate them or for market share or maybe both.

 

[target2019]

Agree with that but more often than not they seem to "neuter" many of the companies/technologies they buy. Sometimes I think they bought some companies just to eliminate them or for market share or maybe both.

That is a big company tactic of slow growers. At mega-size the only way to grow substantially is to acquire. But every acquisition doesn't work out, and the need for whiz-bang software X falls to the side of road.

I think of Cisco as an internet utility company. Of course they can't request price increases from a PUC, but they are tied into the routing of packets, so it seems to me more like the UTEs.

Here's a few possibilities.

NET
Cloudflare, Inc. is a Web infrastructure and Web security company.

CRWD
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is a provider of cloud-delivered solution for the endpoint protection.

DDOG
Datadog, Inc. (Datadog) provides monitoring and analytics platform for developers, information technology (IT) operations teams and business users in the cloud age.

SPLK
Splunk Inc. (Splunk) is engaged in the development and marketing of software solutions.

 

[MRG]

Been retired from the field for 8 years. It's not just about the software vendors they're just providing tools. Where I have seen corporate security failures is the implementation of the software along with their own IT practices.

I've been in some really great datacenters, some tier 5, with really great staffing. Then I've been elsewhere. There's a terrible number of people in the industry who lack training and basic skills. Challenging also is front line positions in operational areas are sometimes seen as proving/poaching grounds for other areas.

I could write a book about all the avoidable disasters I've seen. Why bother? Nobody read all the trip reports.

 

[eytonxav]

The other area that should benefit from these attacks is disaster recovery. Locking up files is one thing, but if there is an off network backup that would help a lot if there is a successful hack. Not sure what Sungard is up to these days, but they were decent firm back in the day.

 

[Car-Guy]

The other area that should benefit from these attacks is disaster recovery. Locking up files is one thing, but if there is an off network backup that would help a lot if there is a successful hack. Not sure what Sungard is up to these days, but they were decent firm back in the day.

Sungard, now that brings back memories too... Loved to go to the Philly site for DR testing since Atlantic City was only an hour away . If I remember correctly ComDisco was their biggest competitor back in 80's and 90's... Ah, the days of Mainframes......

 

[CoolRich59]

I used to provide legal support to IT Security teams at a couple of different firms. They might surprise me, but IBM would be the last company I’d expect to be successful here.

During my tenure, they lost several deals because they didn’t have the right solution, or tried to push a solution the client didn’t want, or didn’t respond to client questions, or, sent people who didn’t know the products they were selling, or ...

I have no animus against IBM, but it was amazing the number of times I saw them ‘snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’.

 

[harley]

I used to provide legal support to IT Security teams at a couple of different firms. They might surprise me, but IBM would be the last company I’d expect to be successful here.

During my tenure, they lost several deals because they didn’t have the right solution, or tried to push a solution the client didn’t want, or didn’t respond to client questions, or, sent people who didn’t know the products they were selling, or ...

I have no animus against IBM, but it was amazing the number of times I saw them ‘snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’.

When I suggested IBM I was responding to the OP's questions:

Which company is apt to come out on tops in terms of providing cyber security protection for enterprise, government and infrastructure type systems.

IBM is a huge company that enterprise and government organizations love to contract with. I didn't mean to imply they'd actually successfully secure anything.

 

[lordjust]

Cisco has my vote.

Wow!!!?? IBM and Cisco ? I think people have been out of the loop for awhile.

It depends on what you mean by security and their function but FireEye for forensics, penetration testing, etc are the ones that get called in when it hits the fan. They likely have an ongoing operations role but I didn’t explore with their management.

Search for Sony and fireeye. These people are very very well trained.

Did you all know colonial didn’t have a cso. They did hire a person that had most of their career in marketing and finance as their cio. She went from marketing to cio. She had plenty of LinkedIn congrats for executives that were promoted but no technical posts. Odd transition in my opinion. Bet the ceo is regretting that decision.

 

[target2019]

I try to keep what I want to happen separate from my guesses about what will happen. So it seems this thread was established by OP to ask about what will happen, and which companies may benefit. There are companies that have a strategic role, and companies that have tactical tools. Cisco has a strategic role because of hardware, security OS, and a million engineers (past and present I'd guess) who understand bits. Companies which provide tools, like Splunk, work in a cooperative way with Cisco. And as can be seen in the acquisitions page link I posted.

There are of course personal preferences, but these don't prevail in the business marketplace. Microsoft is a good example. It's always been popular to curse M$, and much of it is deserved. But the cries of a cable changer don't matter much in the CIO office. I think people who don't understand this have not been in the loop. Myself, I'm in the loop by virtue of long career, and still conversing with some still on the inside. I believe long-term perspective is worth something.

 

[target2019]

How about a company like Palantir?
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/11/palantir-pltr-q1-2021-earnings.html

They seem to be on the Pentagon's short list. They are after health sciences market too. They have a quirky founder, which seems a prerequisite these days.

 

[eytonxav]

Sungard, now that brings back memories too... Loved to go to the Philly site for DR testing since Atlantic City was only an hour away . If I remember correctly ComDisco was their biggest competitor back in 80's and 90's... Ah, the days of Mainframes......

That is correct, Comdisco was the other DR leader. I negotiated large contracts with both of those firms back in the 80s.

 

[Car-Guy]

Here's an idea from left field when looking at IT security for investments...


I didn't look them up but you might want to look for companies that are specializing in protecting SCADA systems. SCADA has been around a long time and is used for controlling all sorts of critical infrastructure. (Water, power, gas, sewer, etc). At some point, companies and government(s) may recognize and decide that these systems need a lot more protection than they have today. When they do, some of these security companies could do very well.

 

[Car-Guy]

That is correct, Comdisco was the other DR leader. I negotiated large contracts with both of those firms back in the 80s.

Sounds like you and I may have covered a lot of the same ground in our careers... Or as we say in Texas, chewed a lot of the same dirt...

 

[target2019]

SCADA security reference: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us...law-too-many-vulnerabilities-in-scada-systems

I'd keep Thinkst on the list of security companies, maybe an IPO someday. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/thinkst-canary

 

[eytonxav]

Sounds like you and I may have covered a lot of the same ground in our careers... Or as we say in Texas, chewed a lot of the same dirt...

Yes, I was a corp department head responsible for contracting for ~ $1.5B in IT spend annually. Hardware, software and lots of software development, temp tech help and offshoring. Did not like what some of that did to our excellent domestic IT employees.