Hackers Fool Two Tech Giants; Will Regulators Intervene?

Two major tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Meta Platforms (FB) have been tricked into revealing customers’ personal information by hackers who posed as law enforcement officers. The news was reported by Bloomberg.

The hackers made a false emergency data request to the companies to obtain the addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses of their clients in mid-2021.

The news agency also reported that Snap (SNAP) was also approached by the hackers; however, there is no information on whether the company answered their requests.

The hackers have not been identified so far. Some cybersecurity researchers, however, suspect the involvement of a group of minors in the U.S. and U.K. or a member of Lapsus$ group that was recently in news for hacking renowned companies like Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analyst Recommendation

Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan maintained a Buy rating on Apple with a price target of $215 (implying 20.9% upside potential from current level).

The analyst said that there are rumors of Apple reducing the production of iPhone SE and for all iPhone 13 products, which is being linked with lower demand assumptions. However, he highlighted that Apple has lowered trade-in prices for used iPhones, which means that the company is not concerned with demand levels.

Overall, the Street is bullish on the stock and has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 23 Buys and five Holds. Apple’s average price target of $193.36 implies upside potential of about 8.8% from current levels.

Website Traffic

TipRanks’ Website Traffic tool, which uses data from SEMrush Holdings (SEMR), the world’s biggest website usage monitoring service, offers insight into AAPL’s performance.

According to the tool, the Apple website recorded a 12% monthly decrease in global visits in February, compared to the previous year. Likewise, the footfall on its website has declined 28.3% year-to-date against the same period last year.

Takeaway

The rising vulnerability of multi-billion-dollar companies against cybersecurity issues is becoming a major concern among investors. It may not be long before regulators intervene in the matter and tighten cybersecurity laws.

Nevertheless, Apple’s dominant position in the market, strong fundamentals and love for innovation will continue to provide support to the stock.

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