Cybersecurity sector isn't in nirvana ... yet, here's why

Cybersecurity is a multi-billion opportunity that has investors flocking to ASX stocks in the space, but the sector isn’t in a golden period just yet, according to one company exec.

Businesses and governments are spending more on cybersecurity platforms, which is seeing companies like WhiteHawk (ASX:WHK) benefit.

Yesterday the company revealed it had won a major US government contract.

The government will implement WhiteHawk’s cyber risk monitoring software Cyber Risk Radar.

Several other cybersecurity stocks have also benefited in recent weeks from individual contract wins as well as the Australian government’s investments.

‘It’s not like we’re in Nirvana here’

However, while companies are spending more money, this is not driving rapid change within the sector.

“The cybersecurity arena is not exponentially improving each year,” WhiteHawk boss Terry Roberts told Stockhead from Arlington, Virginia.

“It’s not like we’re in Nirvana here, we’re spending more money, we’re adding more capabilities and we’re not getting exponentially better.

“So why not try something that’s coming out from a different perspective?”

Selling the story

Roberts said companies still preferred to tackle cybersecurity themselves, with third party vendors increasingly becoming the target of cyberattacks.

“I have been trying to engage with the top 15 defence and industrial companies in the US and even when you show them you have something that is truly game changing, automated and affordable, they say ‘oh well, we’re dealing with it in house’,” Roberts said.

“I have been fortunate because 5 per cent of the things I’ve gone after have come to fruition, but it’s hard to do the 95 per cent and you don’t get a chance.”