The cybersecurity industry and the services it provides are nearly invisible to the average person except for when it fails. The CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) outage on July 19 did a fantastic job of reminding everyone of this reality, as a seemingly invisible update to Windows OS cybersecurity brought down airlines, banks, hospital systems and even emergency services. With how widespread and deeply embedded these technologies are, it’s no wonder cybersecurity stocks have performed as aggressively as they have in the last few years.

But what sets apart a good cybersecurity investment from a bad one?

Often, it comes down to the product and delivery of that product that makes a company competitive. After all, there are several, highly competitive subspecialties of cybersecurity services. Therefore, the following three cybersecurity stocks are all masters of their niches. They have various ways of providing their services to remain relevant in the long run.

Cyberark (CYBR)

Specialized primarily in identity management, Cyberark (NASDAQ:CYBR) is one of the steadiest cyber security stocks investors can consider. That’s because its approach to offering only one major cybersecurity product has allowed it to become one of the best providers of identity management solutions.

Moreover, this approach underscores the importance of identity management technology. Securely storing and processing the data to which users have access to a computer network, and many other forms of cyber security, are not likely to detect threats due to not being able to identify who has access to the system, and who does not.

Thus it’s no surprise that CYBR’s share value grew 54% in the last 12 months as the company continues to expand the value generation of its operations. Ultimately, investors interested in buying the best cyber security stocks should make a play. Discover Cyberark as an exceptionally lucrative long term play, as the company becomes an industry leader as its sole service.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

One of the largest and fastest-growing cybersecurity companies of the last decade, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) has made a name for itself as an all-around service provider for end-to-end security solutions. While much of its recent growth has been a byproduct of investor excitement around its new Precision AI system for threat detection, the company’s true long-term value could lie in its research section, dubbed Unit 42.

Despite its mysterious name, Unit 42 is PANW’s threat intelligence and security consulting team. As a group of cybersecurity researchers and industry experts, Unit 42 uses data directly collected by the company’s security services to study and uncover new cyber threats. This research and development approach to cyber security means PANW’s products can remain effective against novel malware and emerging hackers.

As a result, investors who buy PANW stock now could one day see their investment become part of a larger, more influential cybersecurity developer.

Radware (RDWR)

Founding chief executive officers are typically rare, especially in the tech industry. But when it comes to cybersecurity stalwart, Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR), the company has relied upon the guidance of Roy Zisapel since 1997.  This is significant for the main reason that the company has spent the last three decades specializing in cloud security, which was guided by his product expertise over the years.

As a result, Radware has become an expert service provider for data center networking security, a sector that is currently expanding at blistering speeds thanks to investor fervor around AI data centers. Thus, Radware now has access to a rapidly expanding customer base in need of its niche expertise for protection.

While not as successful in the past year as the other two stocks on this list, Radware’s specialty could raise its revenue generation to the next level as data centers across the world open up in need of its specialty cloud protection platforms.

On the date of publication, Viktor Zarev did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.