Cybersecurity stocks hit new highs as AI agents spark 'biggest risk today': Chart of the Day

Cybersecurity stocks have been on fire this year, fueled by AI-driven spending and growing warnings from tech giants about the risks of increasingly powerful agents.

The First Trust Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR) reached an all-time high on Monday as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) notched a fresh record.

The fund's main holdings, CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Fortinet (FTNT), all sit near all-time highs. Those stocks have surged 132%, 131% and 97%, respectively.

Rubrix (RBRK), F5 (FFIV), and Cloudflare (NET) also sit near record highs after a strong rally this year as shown on Yahoo Finance's AlphaSpace chart.

Alarm bells from leadership at Anthropic and OpenAI prompted a rally in cybersecurity stocks last month.

The surge in AI agent usage and the popularity of Meta's (META) Muse have also highlighted the need for the industry.

"Agents going rogue is the biggest risk today," Jay Chaudhury, CEO of Zscaler, told Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi on Monday.

"Imagine an agent on your corporate network hacked or hijacked, or it goes rogue. They're far more dangerous because they work at machine speed," he added.

Increased attention on AI safety risks will be a major tailwind for cybersecurity spending, according to Morgan Stanley analysts, who have Overweight recommendations on Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and Okta (OKTA).