Here's Why Cybersecurity Stocks (FEYE, PANW, SYMC) Are Soaring Today

Shares of the world’s largest cybersecurity companies—including FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) , Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) , and Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) —are soaring on Monday morning thanks to a massive cyberattack that affected at least 150 countries over the weekend.

Today’s gains were exacerbated by the fear that the “WannaCry” malware attack would worsen this week after people returned to their computers on Monday. Cybersecurity stocks tend to gain in response to largescale hacks because companies are more likely to bolster their protection.

Palo Alto Networks gained as much as 4.8% in morning trading hours, while fellow industry leaders FireEye and Symantec were up 8.8% and 5.3%, respectively. Barracuda Networks (NYSE:CUDA) was up as high as 6%, Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) gained 5.6%, and Check Point Software (NASDAQ:CHKP) moved about 2.7% higher.

Overall, the PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF HACK opened with a 4.2% gain, hitting a new 52-week high in the process.

This latest attack, which started last Friday, compromised an estimated 200,000 computers around the world. The malware operates like a worm, scanning other machines within the same system for a Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) defect that it can take advantage of.

The defect is particularly present in older Microsoft software like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has discontinued support for these outdated programs, but the company did say it was working on special patches to block the attack.

The attack commenced just one day after the Trump administration announced a new executive order aimed at beefing up the nation’s cybersecurity. While the order is short on actionable details, it does push for new deadlines for recommendations from experts. In fact, the plan is similar to the Obama administration’s approach and is rooted in a push to the cloud.

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