We’re writing to you again today from the 4th Annual Australian Microcap Investment Conference in Melbourne.
Yesterday’s line up was a good mix of companies. We popped in to see those that interested us the most.
During the rest of the time we caught up with the market action. We also put together the weekly update for Revolutionary Tech Investor.
Oh, and we chewed through a few pages of Richard Clarke’s book on cyber security, Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security.
Don’t worry, we weren’t slacking off. Cyber security, cyber terrorism, and cyber warfare were all the subject of the latest issue of Revolutionary Tech Investor.
And based on what we’ve learnt on the subject in recent weeks, if we thought cyber security wasn’t such a big deal before, we sure as heck get it now…
We’ll be honest, when our in-house technology analyst, Sam Volkering, suggested a few months ago that we cover cyber security in an issue of Revolutionary Tech Investor, we almost brushed it off.
The first thought that came to mind was, ‘What? You want us to tip an anti-virus software company? That’s hardly revolutionary.’
Perhaps you would have thought the same thing. The name of our premium investment service is deliberate. If we’re going to back an industry and recommend buying shares in a company then it better be revolutionary.
So to our mind cyber security and an anti-virus software company didn’t seem to fit the bill. Even so, we were prepared to hear Sam out. We challenged him to make his case in 10 minutes. An hour later we were hooked.
We soon discovered that there’s much more to cyber security than anti-virus software. What we found out completely changed the way we look at the vast global network of wired and wireless connections…
Is Your Computer Watching You?
One particular part of Richard Clarke’s book reminded us of a story told to us by a former boss about his dear old mum. Every now and again she’d visit from the country and stay for a few nights in the spare bedroom.
The spare bedroom is also where the family computer lived (this was pre-iPad). That wasn’t a problem. His mum just had one condition about staying in the same room as the computer.
You see, as many computers do, it had a webcam attached – handy for Skype video calls. Her one request was that the webcam had to be covered. She was worried that someone would be able to see her without her knowing it.
Oh how we laughed at that story, ‘Tell it again’ we would say. Everyone knows that’s not how webcams work. Or do they?
As Richard Clarke explains in Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security:
‘In 2009, Canadian researchers uncovered a highly sophisticated computer program they dubbed GhostNet. It had taken over an estimated 1,300 computers at several countries’ embassies around the world. The program had the capability to remotely turn on a computer’s camera and microphone without alerting the user and to export the images and sound silently back to servers in China.‘
We bet after reading that you’ll never look at that tiny camera on your laptop computer the same way again. In fact, we’ll bet you’ll now get into the habit of turning the camera away from you when you’re not using the laptop!
The reality is this is just a tiny example of what goes on in the world of cyber warfare. It’s going on all the time.
There’s even a chance hackers have used your computer as part of a cyber-attack without you knowing it. It’s all part of how the ‘cyber terrorists’ (for want of a better term) launch their attacks and sustain them, causing mass disruption to networks.
An Army of Hackers
We won’t go into the full details here. We explained things in full in the October issue of Revolutionary Tech Investor. But what we will say is that the attack mechanisms are highly sophisticated.
It’s not just one guy sitting in his bedroom cracking passwords and causing a spot of bother. It’s about maybe thousands of hackers writing and spreading malicious software (malware) in co-ordinated attacks that the victims may not discover for weeks…if they discover them at all.
As Clarke notes in his book:
‘All told, North Korea may have from 600 to 1,000 KPA cyber warfare agents acting in cells in the PRC, under a commander with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. North Korea selects elite students at the elementary-school level to be groomed as future hackers.‘
It’s a fascinating topic. Before we got stuck into the research we couldn’t have thought of anything more boring than cyber security.
But after Sam laid out the big picture, we dug deeper into it and the impact it could have on the world economy. We’re certain that cyber security will be one of the most important industries in the years ahead.
That’s especially so as hackers migrate from launching viruses that attack PCs to launching viruses that attack smartphones – something Sam explained in this week’s Revolutionary Tech Investor weekly update.
Cyber Security: Crucial to the Global Economy
Unfortunately, there aren’t any cyber security firms presenting at the Microcap conference here in Melbourne. But that’s OK. The small-cap market isn’t one-dimensional. There are plenty of exciting stories to hear from a range of different sectors.
Today we’ll look in on presentations covering health, biotech, communications, and technology. Each company will have its own story to tell. Each could play a key role in the economy.
But as interesting as these companies are, the reality is that what they can achieve won’t count for toffee if cyber terrorists infiltrate and destroy their data or intellectual property. That’s where the cyber security firms enter the fray.
Cyber security is just as important to today’s economy as the development of the internet was 20 years ago. If these guys can’t stop cyber-attacks, the truth is the entire connected economy would grind to a halt.
Six months ago we thought cyber security was a big yawn. Today, we see it as one of the hottest, most important and exciting sectors anywhere on the market.
Cheers,
Kris+
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