Plenty of exchange traded funds can be considered thematic and worthy of situational trades or investments. With another cyber security at a major U.S. company, the PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (NYSEArca: HACK) is again in the limelight , underscoring the new ETF’s utility as a rising star among theme-driven ETFs.
Shares of HACK, which debuted last November, are higher by 2% Thursday after hackers gained access to the personal data of millions of Anthem health insurance customers. The cyber thieves gained access to Anthem customers’ “names, birthdays, Social Security numbers, addresses and employment data including income might have been stolen,” reports USA Today.
HACK’s positive response to Anthem’s negative news is not surprising as the ETF has been down this road this before in its brief lifespan. The December flap over North Korea cyber criminals allegedly hacking Sony (NYSE: SNE), prompting the company to scrap the release of the “The Interview,” was a boon for HACK.
During the time of “The Interview” controversy, shares of HACK surged and its assets under management swelled, more than doubling during the month of December. Last month, PureFunds said HACK eclipsed $100 million in assets, meaning the ETF needed just six weeks from inception to achieve that much ballyhooed ETF milestone. [Cyber Security ETF Swells to $100M in AUM]
“The cyber security industry is one that is constantly evolving and we brought HACK to the market as a way for investors to get easy access to this industry using diversification. There has been plenty of buzz regarding cyber security M&A and new regulations that could require increased spending on cyber security solutions. We are pleased to provide the market with a vehicle to access this integral part of the modern global economy,” said PureFunds CEO Andrew Chanin in an email to ETF Trends.
HACK benchmarks to the ISE Cyber Security Index, “which tracks the performance of companies actively engaged in providing services for cyber security and for which cyber security business activities are a key driver of their business model. These cyber security services are designed to protect computer hardware, software, networks and data from unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, attacks and other security breaches,” according to PureFunds.