What's Leading to the Rise in Cybercrime?

An increase in remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rise in cybercrime.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

SPONSORED Bill O'Reilly: "The real TRUTH about the U.S. economy" Click Here > > MARKET TRENDS Why the Office's Demise Has Led to a Rise in Cybercrime Matthew Carr | Chief Trends Strategist | The Oxford Club Is the office canceled? Sure, Steve Carell and Greg Daniels have moved on to Netflix's Space Force. But the future of the office is one a lot of CEOs are currently pondering. Now, before you shake your fist at the sky or lament this possibility, understand that this is an opportunity that should make investors cheer. If there are any bright spots to be found in the pandemic, one could be that companies finally have an excuse to deleverage themselves from one of the biggest areas of corporate waste: real estate. Years before COVID-19, the global accounting firm Accenture found that "the average firm has 30% to 50% more real estate than it needs." That's millions upon millions of dollars each year being shoveled into a furnace. Employees have been embracing mobility and the flexibility to work remotely. This was pre-COVID-19. Even then, the office was already on its way out. The pandemic is merely accelerating its demise. Empty Desks and Fat Wallets Silicon Valley is leading this sea change. Tech execs believe the era of cubicles and having to deal with co-workers microwaving smelly food in the breakroom is over. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) told its employees they can work from home permanently. Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL), Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and Slack Technologies (NYSE: WORK) don't expect employees back at their old desks until 2021. And that's if (a big IF) they ever return. There's also another half-dozen tech giants considering permanently keeping a considerable swath of their employees at home. In fact, Slack's CEO, Stewart Butterfield, believes at least 20% to 40% of the company's workforce will be remote. And just like many other corporations, Slack has to make real estate decisions several years in advance. Right now, the business technology platform is weighing the possibility of 30% to 40% fewer desks. Similar conversations are likely being held at businesses small and large. Every company now has to "de-densify" its work environment. But beyond the cloudy future of corporate real estate, there's another issue budding from this trend... SPONSORED Expert Who Recommended Tesla at $37 Reveals Bold New Stock Prediction This obscure small cap 5G stock has partnered with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. Its technology is protected by 200 patents. It counts the U.S. Army and Department of Homeland Security as customers. And it's expected to SKYROCKET on September 8. Get the scoop here...   Everyone Under Siege There's a troubling undercurrent to our new normal. With more people working remotely and more devices connected to the internet, instances of everything from denial-of-service attacks to phishing scams to ransomware are on the rise. And not just against individuals, but against corporations and government agencies too. So far this year, 80% of companies have reported an increase in cyberattacks. There's been a 148% increase in ransomware attacks as the number of attacks against banks has soared 238%. Meanwhile, phishing attacks have surged 600% since February and cloud-based attacks skyrocketed 630% between January and April. Cybercrime is rising at an alarming level. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is observing 12 million attacks per day. This is the pandemic inside the pandemic. And targeting this trend has paid off handsomely in 2020. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (Nasdaq: BUG) has outperformed the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 this year. And hot stocks such as CrowdStrike (Nasdaq: CRWD) and Zscaler (Nasdaq: ZS) have more than doubled, as strong performers like Okta (Nasdaq: OKTA), SailPoint Technologies (NYSE: SAIL) and Tenable (Nasdaq: TENB) have returned better than 40% apiece so far in 2020. Now, before COVID-19 reared its ugly head, cloud security was already poised to be one of the fastest-growing areas in tech over the next several years. In 2018, $10.5 billion was spent on public cloud security. By 2022, total cloud security spending is expected to surpass $17.9 billion. But I think the totals could potentially be much larger than that. Especially considering the staggering uptick in attacks we're facing. The days of the office appear numbered... at the very least for some. This is good news for investors as companies will need to trim their bloated real estate budgets. That means one of the five largest areas of corporate waste can be reined in. And we're going to see a lot more money poured into network security, identity management software and other areas of virtual defense. For investors, there's a growing ecosystem to target that's positioned to profit on the future - and protection - of the remote worker. Here's to high returns, Matthew Leave a Comment MORE FROM PROFIT TRENDS Three Major Events That Could Change the Stock Market and How to Play Them Is It Too Late for Big Oil's Green Transformation? How Cannabis Companies Are Faring in the Wake of the Pandemic Facebook Twitter Email Share SPONSORED 417-3! Congress Passes Law That Could Reduce 401(k)s. Click Here for Details. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Profit Trends. Profit Trends is published by The Oxford Club. Questions? Check out our FAQs. Trying to reach us? Contact us here. Please do not reply to this email as it goes to an unmonitored inbox. 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