KORE Group Holdings (KORE) Risk Factors

A cybersecurity incident in our own systems or the systems of our third-party providers may compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our own internal data, the availability of our products, and websites designed to support our customers or our customer data. Computer hackers, ransom attacks, foreign governments, or cyber terrorists may attempt to or succeed in penetrating our network security and our website. The discovery of wide-scale cybersecurity intrusions into U.S. government and private company computer networks by alleged Russian state actors underscores the ongoing threat posed by sophisticated and foreign state-sponsored attacks. The frequency of ransomware and malware attacks has also been increasing over time. Unauthorized access and theft to our proprietary business information or customer data or rendering them unusable for our use through encryption, may be accomplished through break-ins, sabotage, theft of IoT data streams and transmissions, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, ransomware attacks, breach of the security of the networks of our third-party providers, or other misconduct. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or users to disclose sensitive or confidential information to gain access to data. Despite our efforts to maintain the security and integrity of our systems, it is impossible to eliminate this risk. Because the techniques used by computer hackers who may attempt to penetrate and sabotage our network security or our website change frequently, they may take advantage of weaknesses in third-party technology or standards of which we are unaware or that we do not control and may not be recognized until long after they have been launched against a target. We may be unable to anticipate or counter these techniques. It is also possible that unauthorized access to customer data or confidential information may be obtained through inadequate use of security controls by customers, vendors, or business partners. Efforts to prevent hackers from disrupting our service or otherwise accessing our systems are expensive to develop, implement, and maintain. Such efforts require ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated and may limit the functionality of, or otherwise adversely impact our service offering and systems. A cybersecurity incident affecting our systems may also result in the theft of our intellectual property, proprietary data, or trade secrets, potentially compromising our competitive position, reputation, and operating results. We also may be required to notify regulators about any actual or perceived personal data breach(es) (including the European Union Lead Data Protection Authority) as well as the individual(s) who are affected by the incident within strict time periods. The systems we rely upon also remain vulnerable to damage or interruption from a number of other factors, including access to the internet, the failure of our network or software systems, or significant variability in visitor traffic on our product websites, earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, computer viruses, human error, and similar events or disruptions. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities. Our systems are also subject to intentional acts of vandalism. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision by any of our third-party hosting providers to close a facility we use without adequate notice for financial or other reasons, or other unanticipated problems at our hosting facilities could cause system interruptions and delays, and result in loss of critical data and lengthy interruptions in our services. We rely on our information systems and those of third parties for activities such as processing customer orders, delivery of products, hosting and providing services and support to our customers, billing and tracking our customers, hosting and managing our customer data, and otherwise running our business. Any disruptions or unexpected incompatibilities in our information systems and those of the third parties upon which we rely could have a significant impact on our business. An increasing portion of our revenue comes from subscription solutions and other hosted services in which we store, retrieve, communicate, and manage data that is critical to our customers' business systems. Disruption of our systems that support these services and solutions could cause disruptions in our customers' systems and in the businesses that rely on these systems. Any such disruptions could harm our reputation, create liabilities for our customers, hurt demand for our services and solutions, and adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Existing privacy-related laws and regulations in the United States and other countries are evolving and are subject to potentially differing interpretations, and various U.S. federal and state or other international legislative and regulatory bodies may expand or enact laws regarding privacy and data security-related matters. For example, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, a basis for data transfers from the European Union to the U.S., was invalidated by the European Court of Justice, and we expect that the international transfer of personal data will present ongoing compliance challenges and complicate our business transactions and operations. Some countries are considering or have passed legislation that requires local storage and processing of data, including geospatial data. In addition, in June 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the "CCPA"), which took effect in January 2020 and has been amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (the "CPRA"), which passed via ballot initiative in November 2020 and took effect in January 2023. The CCPA and CPRA, among other things, give California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. Other states and the U.S. Congress have introduced data privacy legislation that may impact our business. Data privacy legislation, amendments and revisions to existing data privacy legislation, and other developments impacting data privacy and data protection may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, increase the complexity of providing our products and services, and cause us to incur substantial costs in an effort to comply. Failure to comply may lead to significant fines and business interruption and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our products and solutions, including our software products, are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, may contain errors, defects, or security vulnerabilities including but not limited to vulnerabilities resulting from the use of third-party hardware and software. We must develop our products quickly to keep pace with the rapidly changing market, and we have a history of frequently introducing new products. Products and services as sophisticated as ours could contain undetected errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new models or versions are released. Such occurrences could result in damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diverted development resources, increased customer service and support costs, warranty claims, and litigation. We warrant that our products will be free of defects for various periods of time, depending on the product. In addition, certain of our contracts include epidemic failure clauses. If invoked, these clauses may entitle the customer to return or obtain credits for products and inventory, or to cancel outstanding purchase orders even if the products themselves are not defective. Errors, viruses, or bugs may be present in software or hardware that we acquire or license from third parties and incorporate into our products or in third-party software or hardware that our customers use in conjunction with our products. Our customers' proprietary software and network firewall protections may corrupt data from our products and create difficulties in implementing our solutions. Changes to third-party software or hardware that our customers use in conjunction with our software could also render our applications inoperable. Any errors, defects, or security vulnerabilities in our products or any defects in, or compatibility issues with, any third-party hardware or software or customers' network environments discovered after commercial release could result in loss of revenue or delay in revenue recognition, loss of customers, theft of trade secrets, data or intellectual property and increased service and warranty cost, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Undiscovered vulnerabilities in our products alone or in combination with third-party hardware or software could expose them to hackers or other unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy viruses, and other malicious software programs that could attack our products. Actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products could harm our reputation and lead some customers to return products, reduce or delay future purchases, or use competitive products.

The market for the products and services that we offer is rapidly evolving and highly competitive. Our products compete with a variety of solutions, including other subscription-based IoT platforms and solutions. We expect competition to continue to increase and intensify, especially in the 5G market. Many of our competitors or potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, operational, and marketing resources than we do. These competitors, for example, may be able to respond more rapidly or more effectively than we can to new or emerging technologies, changes in customer requirements, supplier-related developments, or a shift in the business landscape. They also may devote greater or more effective resources than we do to the development, manufacture, promotion, sale, and post-sale support of their respective products and services. Many of our current and potential competitors have more extensive customer bases and broader customer, supplier, and other industry relationships that they can leverage to establish competitive dealings with many of our current and potential customers. Some of these companies also have more established and larger customer support organizations than we do. In addition, these companies may adopt more aggressive pricing policies or offer more attractive terms to customers than they currently do, or than we are able to do. They may bundle their competitive products with broader product offerings and may introduce new products, services and enhancements. Current and potential competitors might merge or otherwise establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties to enhance their products, services, or market position. In addition, at any time any given customer or supplier of ours could elect to enter our then-existing line of business and thereafter compete with us, whether directly or indirectly. As a result, it is possible that new competitors or new or otherwise enhanced relationships among existing competitors may emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share to the detriment of our business. We expect our competitors to continue to improve the features and performance of their current products and to introduce new products, services, and technologies which, if successful, could reduce our sales and the market acceptance of our products, generate increased price competition, and make our products obsolete. For our products to remain competitive, we must, among other things, continue to invest significant resources (financial, human, and otherwise) in, among other things, research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. We may not have or continue to have sufficient resources to make these investments. Also, we may not be able to make technological advances in the marketplace, meet changing customer requirements, achieve market acceptance and respond to our competitors' products. If we are unable to compete effectively, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our revenue, results of operations and cash flows depend on the overall demand for our platforms and solutions. Negative macroeconomic conditions in the general economy both in the United States and abroad, inflation, changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, energy costs, international trade relations, geopolitical tensions, the availability and cost of credit, interest rate volatility and the global housing and mortgage markets could cause a decrease in consumer discretionary spending and business investment and diminish growth expectations in the U.S. economy and abroad. A broadening or protracted extension of any economic downturn could have a material adverse impact on our business revenue, results of operations, and cash flows.

We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced significant governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. These laws and regulations include data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, tax laws, anti-competition regulations, import and trade restrictions, export control laws, and laws that prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or certain payments or remunerations to customers, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), the U.K. Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption laws that have recently been the subject of a substantial increase in global enforcement. Many of our products are subject to U.S. export law restrictions that limit the destinations and types of customers to which our products may be sold or that require an export license in connection with sales outside the United States. Given the high level of complexity of these laws, there is a risk that some provisions may be inadvertently or intentionally breached, for example through fraudulent or negligent behavior of individual employees, our failure to comply with certain formal documentation requirements or otherwise. Also, we may be held liable for actions taken by our local partners. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, and prohibitions or conditions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions or conditions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If any of our facilities or the facilities of our third-party service providers including for example our telecommunications carrier partners, other suppliers of products that are components of our IoT Solutions, our data center providers, or our other partners are affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, power shortages, floods, civil unrest, public health crises (such as pandemics and epidemics), political crises (such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict), climate change, or other events outside our control, including a cyberattack, our critical business or IT systems could be destroyed or disrupted and our ability to conduct normal business operations and our revenue, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected.