The vacuum of understanding expressed by some of our non-holding...

The vacuum of understanding expressed by some of our non-holding experts always makes me smile. Identity theft; IP theft (particularly medical); insider threat; spyware; counterfeit authentication; software hacks; do not move up and down with the Nasdaq Index. "Look chaps, tech stocks are being hammered this month. Let's just budget for that ransomware attack!".

"We've got all these malicious adversaries. Highly skilled, highly advanced, highly motivated actors coming up with new tradecraft; improving the techniques they're using to compromise our networks all the time." [Ryan Janosevic 'Cyber Resilience and Incident Response']

There now exists a multitude of ambitious, self-educated, cyber warriors from the third world. Or the invisible, state-sponsored attackers, who can wage war far more effectively over a network than a small squadron of hunter-killer submarines ever will in the physical battlezone. Can anyone hazard a guess at the types of well-guarded discussion occurring in Beijing, now that the USA has announced its intention to boycott the Winter Olympics?

"Imagine that there is a war going on. You can't see the bullets flying but it is very real and it is going on right now." [Peter Coroneos 'The Cyber Arms Race'].

All the while, cyber threats from organized crime groups might not even require brilliant minds. The standard vector to a multi-million dollar ransomware exploit is password complacency. Treat cybersecurity as a 'nice to have' and pay the price.

This stock has to be the greatest bargain on the ASX. So it is no wonder that our new, already successful, acquisitions want a decent shareholding. Geoff Lord and the board know what they are building here. It staggers me how many just don't get it.