● Anthropic AI Security Bombshell Triggers Cybersecurity Stock Bloodbath
The content we are discussing today is not just simple news of a stock price plunge.
We have analyzed why the cybersecurity stocks in your portfolio crashed by more than 10% overnight,
and how Anthropic’s latest announcement is shaking the very foundations of existing SaaS business models.
When others simply say, “AI is good at security, too,”
we examine “the end of human experts” and “investment survival strategies in the era of autonomous agents.”
By the time you finish reading this, your eyes will be opened to which software companies will survive in the future.
[Emergency Diagnosis] Anthropic’s ‘Claude Code Security’ Announcement and the Fall of Cybersecurity Stocks
1. Market Situation: The ‘AI Security Shock’ That Hit Wall Street (The Iron Fortress Collapses)
On February 20, 2026, the New York stock market fell into a state of panic.
This was because a single stone thrown by the AI startup Anthropic caused a massive tsunami.
As soon as they unveiled ‘Claude Code Security’,
the leading stocks in the cybersecurity market, which were considered impregnable, collapsed in unison.
It was truly shocking to see prominent companies like Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and Zscaler
plummet by more than 10% during the session, threatening 52-week lows.
Investors are now making cold judgments.
“If generative AI takes over everything from coding to security monitoring, is there any place left for existing security vendors?”
The market’s answer to this question appears to be closer to ‘No’, and this led to a sell-off.
It is not a simple correction, but a reflection of the fear that the industry structure is changing.
2. Core Analysis: ‘Claude Code Security’, What Exactly Makes It Different?
This is not content you should just skim through in the news.
This product is not at the level of the simple ‘AI Copilot’ we used to know.
Synthesizing analyses from Bloomberg and industry experts, this is an ‘Autonomous Security Agent’.
Here are the three most important differentiating points.
① Real-time Autonomous Defense (It acts, not just alerts)Existing security tools give an alert (“It’s dangerous!”) to a human when there is a hacking attempt.However, if Claude Code Security discovers a vulnerability at the code level,it does not wait for a human but rewrites the code itself and deploys the patch.
② Ability to Understand ContextIt utilizes the long context window, which is Claude’s greatest strength.This means it understands the entire software structure of the enterprise.It identifies in advance where breaches might occur or where logic errors are hidden and blocks them.
③ Overwhelming Cost Reduction (Replacing Labor Costs)A single AI model replaces the work done by dozens of security operations center (SOC) personnel.Expensive legacy security software license costs are also dramatically reduced.From a corporate perspective, a powerful incentive to use it has been created.
3. [In-depth Analysis] The ‘Real Reason for the Stock Crash’ That No One Else Talks About
Stock prices didn’t just fall because a competitor appeared.
In my view, the core point of this situation is the collapse of the SaaS (Software as a Service) business model.
You must look at this part very cool-headedly.
First, the destruction of the ‘Seat-based’ revenue structure.Existing security companies received money based on the ‘number of users (Seats)’ within a company.The structure is such that the more security managers there are, the more money they earn.However, if AI performs security tasks, the hiring of human experts decreases.Ultimately, it is a crisis where the license revenue itself of existing companies is structurally bound to decrease.
Second, the ‘Commoditization’ of security technology.Cybersecurity has been an area of ‘special technology’ with very high entry barriers.However, Anthropic has absorbed this as a basic feature of a general-purpose AI model.Now, security is at risk of being degraded from an expensive professional service to a ‘basic utility’ like water or electricity.This means the moat has disappeared.
Third, the dimension of competition has changed.Until yesterday, security companies fought amongst themselves, but now they must fight against ‘Hyperscale AI Models’.In terms of data processing power and reasoning ability, it is nearly impossible for individual security solutions to beat Big Tech’s AI.In this massive flow of Digital Transformation, the standing of individual software companies is bound to narrow.
4. Future Outlook: Is This the ‘iPhone Moment for the Security Market’?
Opinions are divided on Wall Street, but the major trend seems irreversible.
[Pessimism: Sell]As analysts at Morgan Stanley say, it is the era where AI writes code.It is most efficient for the one writing the code (AI) to also take care of security directly.The room for separate security vendors to intervene in the middle will rapidly disappear.
[Caution: Wait and See]Of course, compliance or complex hybrid cloud environments are still difficult.The know-how of existing specialized companies may be needed for the time being, so this could be an oversold territory right now.
However, the fact that the food chain of the software industry is being reorganized is clear.
Just as Netflix eliminated video rental stores,highly advanced AI agents are shaking the traditional B2B software market to its roots.
Now, do not ask “Did this company adopt AI?” when investing.You must seriously consider, “Will this company’s business model be replaced by AI?”This ‘Black Friday’ may not be the end, but the beginning of a colossal change.
< Summary >
- Major cybersecurity stocks plummeted by more than 10% due to Anthropic’s launch of ‘Claude Code Security’.
- The new product is not a simple assistant, but an ‘autonomous agent’ that fixes and deploys code itself.
- The core point of the stock crash is the fear of the collapse of the existing SaaS model that charged based on the ‘number of people’.
- As security is absorbed as a basic function (utility) of AI, the entry barriers for specialized companies are crumbling.
- Investors must be wary of the risk that B2B software companies’ business models themselves will be replaced by AI.
[Read More Related Posts]
- Anthropic’s Counterattack, Analysis of Changes in the AI Market Landscape
- The End of the Software Industry and Opportunities Brought by AI
*Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-20/cyber-stocks-slide-as-anthropic-unveils-claude-code-security?embedded-checkout=true
