As more businesses look to make the internet of things the core of their revenue generation models amid the pandemic, cybercrime stands to pick up. Yet a Joe Biden presidency could ramp up efforts to fortify cybersecurity measures, which is a win-win for the Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG).
The fund is already up over 40% this year, according to Morningstar’s performance numbers. Part of the fund’s success can be attributed to its top holding as of December 4 (7.18% of net assets), which is cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks; the stock was up 33% during the month of November.
“Both our firewall transformation and our next-generation security services continue to make great progress,” CEO Nikesh Arora said in a press release.
BUG seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Cybersecurity Index. The thing to note is how technology continues to improve and benefit society, while at the same time, cybersecurity threats increase as well—a byproduct of reliance on cloud computing.
While a majority of its holdings are in the U.S., BUG investors also get global diversification with holdings in other parts of the globe:
Is Cybersecurity a Top Policy Priority?
One of the themes to watch for 2021 will be what Joe Biden’s presidency brings for the cybersecurity sector. As the internet of things (IoT) becomes all things in terms of business processes amid social distancing, cybersecurity will be a top policy priority.
As a Government Technology article noted, “Under Biden, some expect federal cybersecurity to take a much more prominent, strategic position, as he pushes the federal government to build off of work done in the Trump years, while also bringing on board some cyberprofessionals who played prominent roles during the Obama years.”
“It’s a sea change in terms of having folks at this level of experience,” Chris Painter, an Obama era cyber official, told The Washington Post. “They don’t need to be spoon-fed or brought up to speed. Cybersecurity will be a key foreign policy issue with this group.”
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