The cybersecurity industry is highly favored on Wall Street. That's because companies increasingly run their operations online using cloud computing. The costs associated with a data breach are huge (and growing), so there is plenty of demand for advanced protection.

Last year, Morgan Stanley surveyed chief information officers at several large companies and discovered cybersecurity software was the last expense they'd be willing to cut, even in a recession. Similarly, global consulting firm PwC surveyed 4,410 executives earlier this year and learned that 25% of them felt their businesses would be either "highly" or "extremely" exposed to cyber risks over the next five years.

Given this perceived need, McKinsey & Company did some research and calculated that the corporate sector should be spending about $2 trillion per year on cybersecurity. A check of actual spending in this area puts the total at just $168 billion.

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Source Fool.com