IHS Markit has enhanced its quantitative equity research product Research Signals, with 35 cybersecurity risk factors on more than 3,000 public companies.
The cybersecurity risk factors are based on security ratings from BitSight, a provider of actionable risk intelligence.
Research Signals provides investment analyses on more than 30,000 securities in 80 countries, supporting selection and strategy development for asset managers, fund administrators, hedge funds and investment banks.
The BitSight Security Rating Platform generates objective and quantitative measurements on a company’s security performance to produce daily security ratings ranging from 250 to 900.
Bitsight analyses security events including malware, vulnerabilities, user behaviours, and applies algorithms to produce their ratings.
Chris Hammond, executive director of Research Signals at IHS Markit, commented: “BitSight Security Ratings provide a quantitative measure of a specific company’s cybersecurity risk, which fits well into quant models and risk models.”
Hammond added: “It’s an example of how alternative data can help investors make better decisions and monitor risks in their portfolio that they were unable to capture in the past.”
Jacob Olcott, vice president of strategic partnerships at BitSight, said: “Cyber-attacks can result in significant financial impact to the bottom line, but many investors remain in the dark about the security performance of their portfolio companies.”
Virginie O’Shea, research director at Aite Group, commented: “The digitalization of data has created opportunities for cybercriminals, and as markets become more automated, there are more channels for data breaches. Across sectors, companies are taking action to reduce cyber-crime, but they must continue to be aware of any risk that can emerge along with innovation.”
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