Cyber security stocks Sophos, NCC rally

Cyber security companies Sophos and NCC rallied on Monday on the back of the WannaCry ransomware attack which started to spread on Friday, hitting the NHS, Renault, Nissan and scores of other organisations across the globe.

Europol said over the weekend that the cyber attack has claimed around 200,000 victims in at least 250 countries. Meanwhile, the UK's national crime agency tweeted earlier on in the day that although it hasn’t seen a second spike in WannaCry ransomware attacks, "that doesn't mean there won't be one".

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said significant increases in public sector cyber defence spending are now looking inevitable.

He added that Sophos "already provides services to the healthcare industry and will be looking to increase selling to the sector in the aftermath of the attack".

Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said: "We expect firms that have been slow to react to implement new software to prevent these incidents to get things moving with more urgency. Most cyber security names will and should benefit in the coming sessions and in particular smaller firms will be quick to move on this, which will also benefit the UK-listed cyber security ETF."

At 1325 BST, Sophos shares were up 8.1% to 368.90p, while NCC was 3.6% higher at 143p.