Splunk Inc

Where some might get mad, I like to get even.

See, when we spoke back on Oct. 22, I told you how I've fallen for my 2109 Acura MDX hybrid, and the broader scope of autonomous driving capabilities.

Thing is, I left out an embarrassing anecdote. As it turns out, what happened to me during the buying process also happens to millions of others. And today, I want to show you a great way to play the best firms that are addressing the issue.

But before I do, let's go back to what happened at the Acura dealership. See, everything was running smoothly until the finance manager came to tell my wife and me that our credit didn't go through.

No, we are not deadbeats. We have very high credit scores. We had simply forgotten one small detail: After the infamous 2017 hack at Equifax Inc. compromised 143 million accounts, including ours, we froze our credit.

This meant that no one, not even us, could take out a loan or credit card in our name. Fortunately, it only took a few minutes for us to log in to the credit agency and get the lease financing approved.

But the situation got me thinking a lot about our brute-force protection system when reading about the latest big cyber intrusion. This one, announced Nov. 30 of last year, involved 500 million hotel customers – once again, including my wife and me.

It seems that consumers like us can't go very far these days without hearing about some sort of corporate data breach that compromises our private data.

Fortunately, this steady stream of computer hacks and cybercrimes aren't only a cause of concern.

They also present the opportunity for savvy investors to choose an investment that will beat the market, again, this year…