Proactive Investors - Darktrace (LON:DARK) upped its guidance for the year as it said it had seen a wave of AI-generated phishing attacks in the past months.
Customers received around 2.9 million phishing emails in December 2023 alone, said the cyber security specialist, a 14% increase on September 2023
“Between September and December 2023, phishing attacks that use ‘novel social engineering techniques’ grew by 35% on average across the Darktrace customer base,” it said.
"We continue to see the cyber-crime landscape evolve rapidly in a challenging geopolitical environment and as the availability of generative AI tools lowers the barrier to entry for hostile actors, added Poppy Gustaffson, chief executive.
Shares jumped almost 14% as interim profits soared and Darktrace confirmed sales had picked up with the rise in cybercrime.
In the half year to the end of December, revenues were up 27% at £330 million, but underlying profits jumped 87% to £84.5 million.
Darktrace added that while recurring revenue expectations for the year are unchanged, growth and profit margin guidance were being raised again.
Annual revenue growth in 2024 is now forecast at between 23.5% and 25.0% (previously 23.0% and 24.5%).
Customer numbers at the end of the period totalled 9,232, it said, an increase of 12.9% with churn down slightly since June 2023.
“Now, it is the improvement in early cycle operating measures that underpins our confidence in a return to net new business growth in the second half,” added Gustaffson.
Shares rocketed 14% to 401.8p.
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