subscribe Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Subscribe now
Israel has seen a jump in cyberattacks since the October 7 raids by Hamas. Picture: 123RF/DOLGACHOV
Israel has seen a jump in cyberattacks since the October 7 raids by Hamas. Picture: 123RF/DOLGACHOV

 

 

Jerusalem — Israel has seen a jump in cyberattacks since the October 7 raids by Hamas, but Check Point Software Technologies has continued to operate as planned despite the ensuing war and expects higher annual profits than previously thought, it said on Monday.

Gil Shwed, CEO of the Israeli-based company, said 98% of its customers were outside Israel and it had successfully launched new technologies and completed acquisitions.

“Over the past three weeks our employees proved that despite sirens, reserve military draft of a few — around 5% of the entire headcount — we can continue and operate as planned, uninterrupted,” Shwed told analysts on a conference call.

Shwed said Check Point’s data showed that since the October 7 attacks there had been an 18% rise in cyberattacks in Israel, with 52% against the government sector.

Check Point earlier beat third-quarter profit forecasts, boosted by double-digit revenue growth in subscriptions for its platform that prevents attacks across networks, mobile and the cloud.

The company earned $2.07 per diluted share (EPS) excluding one-off items in July-September, up 17% from $1.77 a year earlier. Revenue grew 3% to $596m.

It was forecast to earn $2.02 per share on revenue of $591.5m, according to LSEG data.

Shwed said a year ago companies were keeping their existing firewalls for longer rather than updating them. But now, that has changed.

“The last quarter clearly shows that we are in a very good trend of a positive change. I’m actually quite positive about the business trend that we’re seeing,” he told a news conference.

As a result, Check Point raised its 2023 adjusted EPS estimate to $8.20-$8.40 from $7.70-$8.30 and tweaked its revenue estimate to $2.387bn-$2.437bn from $2.340bn-$2.510bn. Analysts had expected EPS of $8.16 on revenue of $2.41bn.

For the fourth quarter, it sees revenue of $636m-$686m and adjusted EPS of $2.35-$2.55, above analyst estimates.

Check Point said it bought back 2.48-million shares in the quarter, worth $325m, as part of its ongoing $2bn share buyback programme. During the quarter it paid $490m for cyber firm Perimeter 81.

Reuters

subscribe Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.