The list of reasons to like CrowdStrike is growing, as the contentious world stage increasingly features attacks on digital systems. "The ramp up in cyber terrorism is extraordinary according to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz," Jim Cramer said Thursday during the Morning Meeting , adding that it's happening "worldwide." In a text message to Jim, Kurtz said: "You will see a lot more companies get targeted that are related to the conflict in Iran. And while the smoke screen of the war is going on, China is ramping up their activities. They are keenly interested in what's going on with the war." The exchange comes on the heels of an apparent Iran-linked cyberattack on Michigan-based medtech company Stryker on Wednesday that disrupted its daily operations. The bad actors targeted Stryker's devices running Microsoft's Windows operating system, including cell phones and laptops. "While the Company is working diligently to restore affected functions and systems access, the timeline for a full restoration is not yet known," Stryker said in a securities filing Wednesday. Shares of Stryker fell 3.6% on Wednesday, and were under pressure again in Thursday's down market. This isn't an isolated incident. Since the start of the war, hacktivists sympathetic to Iranian leadership have been increasing cyber threats on U.S. and its allies, according to a blog post from Symantec, a cybersecurity provider owned by Club name Broadcom . Another example: The Polish government said Thursday it's investigating whether a failed cyberattack on its nuclear research center may be linked to Iran, according to Reuters . Iran's cyberattacks represent a new dimension for the U.S. and its military actions overseas, according to cybersecurity expert David Kennedy . "This is the first time we're actually having a direct conflict with a type of regime that has very capable cyber capabilities," said Kennedy, CEO of cyber consultancy TrustedSec, on Thursday on CNBC's "The Exchange." Iran's goal is "to inflect as much damage as possible to try to curb geopolitical policy," Kennedy said. The regime is "going after anybody they possibly can and everybody is on high alert right now," added Kennedy, who is also a former hacker at the National Security Agency. "It's only going to take one small exposure that really opens up the hole for these Iranian hackers to really get into the infrastructure." The comments from Kurtz and Kennedy underscore why the escalating conflict in Iran benefits CrowdStrike, making it clear that companies cannot afford to scale back on their security budgets. Aside from the Middle East conflict, the growing adoption of artificial intelligence is another tailwind for the cybersecurity industry that should fuel sustained growth. While AI-enabled tools may help companies with workflow efficiency, they also carry a host of vulnerabilities that could compromise applications and even expose sensitive data. Plus, the hackers can harness AI tools themselves to become even more dangerous. CRWD PANW 1Y mountain CrowdStrike versus Palo Alto Networks shares over the past 12 months. When CrowdStrike and other cyber stocks like fellow portfolio name Palo Alto Networks were caught in the crosshairs of the AI disruption sell-off this year, we consistently argued it was wrong to lump these companies in with the broader enterprise software group. The fear that customers would use large language models to build in-house security tools to replace CrowdStrike's proven applications didn't seem realistic to us. The same logic extends to Palo Alto Networks, though we have signaled that CrowdStrike is our preferred stock of the two. CrowdStrike is known for its protection against those cyber threats through its Falcon platform, which includes AI detection and response, among other industry-leading capabilities. Palo Alto also protects against AI threats through its Prisma AI Runtime Security, a platform that provides real-time monitoring to identify vulnerabilities. Thankfully, CrowdStrike shares have rebounded from their brutal sell-off in mid-to-late February — in a sign the market has realized that slide got out of hand. CrowdStrike also effectively made that case when it reported a strong fourth quarter last week along with upbeat guidance for fiscal 2027. Escalating geopolitical tensions have helped the stock recover, too. At roughly $442 on Thursday, CrowdStrike shares are still below their 2026 closing high of almost $477. The stock is down more than 5% year to date. Meanwhile, Palo Alto shares, which have also made a nice move off their February lows, are down about 9% in 2026. We maintain our 1 rating and $500 price target on CrowdStrike and a 3 rating and $200 price target on Palo Alto. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long CRWD, PANW. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
