(Solar) Winds of Change?

However, the SolarWinds incident could act as a positive catalyst for the cybersecurity industry in 2021, despite the obvious negative headlines. The Cybersecurity industry is quite unique, in that bad news (i.e. a public hack or breach) needs to lead to positive change, as those companies at the forefront of defending our data have to up their game against the hackers. The hack could well be a watershed moment for the industry, potentially accelerating broad changes and causing companies to prioritize their cybersecurity spending not to mention gain the attention and focus of governments and major corporations. Hacks of this scale also act as a timely reminder that no matter how sophisticated the cybersecurity technology gets, hackers will always be there to innovate. Some companies are even turning to a new method of assuming that its defences have already been breached, rather than be reactive.

One such stock, Zscaler, launched a security assessment program designed to help companies assess the SolarWinds supply-chain attack and analyse any potential impact on their organizations. The widespread adoption of the Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) cloud platform as a replacement for VPNs (virtual private networks) in support of the “work from anywhere” environment may have replaced the office building, possibly forever.

Zscaler’s revenue generation for the period soared 55% year over year, landing at $157 million, good enough to beat consensus by almost $10 million. This also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of not just strong, but accelerating revenue growth. Cybersecurity isn’t going anywhere.