It happened again — another giant-sized hack.
Except this time, it’s not a retailer or a credit reporting agency (or a movie studio), as we’ve seen in the last few years.
And the hackers weren’t out to steal credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or unreleased theater films. Instead, their goal was more like a digital bank heist — $31 million worth of cryptocurrency reportedly stolen from Tether, a company that helps bitcoin traders convert U.S. dollars into crypto assets and vice versa.
The theft points out why cybersecurity is so hard: It’s next to impossible to prevent an attack by a skilled hacker (or a team of them).
Instead, more big companies are employing what I like to call the “Let ‘em in” strategy.
You know … from the lyrics of that old (OK, ancient) Paul McCartney & Wings song where he keeps singing: “Open the door, let ‘em in?”
And that’s the point
In Cybersecurity, Monitor and Mitigate
Cybersecurity attacks are impossible to prevent. As Harvard Business Review put it recently: “If the end game is preventing something bad from happening, companies typically waste time and money on futile attempts to build an impenetrable wall of systems.”
So why not focus on the “Let ‘em in” strategy?
“Let ‘em in” — where you can monitor and mitigate the threat of hackers.
Don’t think “fortress” — think “modern apartment building” (without a doorman).
It might be easy enough for an intruder on the street to fool a resident into “buzzing” him into the lobby. Once inside, though, he’s tracked on security cameras. He’ll need a coded key to access the elevator. And in order to steal something, he’ll need a way — brute force, trickery or a purloined key — to open the front door of someone’s residence.
It’s not impossible to do — just a lot harder (and probably not worth the thief’s time and risk).
In fact, that’s the business strategy behind a company I recommended in a recent special report issued exclusively to Total Wealth Insider subscribers back in September. The company’s shares are up more than 12% in the past two months and have a lot further to run.
The key point here?
With most of the major hack attacks, the damage isn’t so much the intrusion — it’s the fact that hackers are able to roam about the data networks of companies undetected for long periods of time.
In the case of this year’s massive Equifax breach, published reports say the hackers were able to penetrate the system for more than two months — between mid-May and late July — before their presence was finally detected.
As more cybersecurity companies adopt a “monitor and mitigate” attitude for their products, it should create even more profitable opportunities for investors.
Kind regards,
Jeff L. Yastine
Editor, Total Wealth Insider
Editor’s Note: Just earlier today, U.S. officials charged a hacker for stealing data from HBO, including unaired episodes of Ballers and Curb Your Enthusiasm, various financial documents and contact lists and even the script for an upcoming episode of Game of Thrones. It seems that no company is safe from hackers these days … which is why cybersecurity is expected to explode in to a $1 trillion industry soon. Early investors stand to make a life-changing fortune … but they have to get in right now. To find out the three cybersecurity stocks you absolutely need to have in your portfolio today, click here.