Netscout Systems (NTCT) Risk Factors

We are and may continue to be subject to claims by others, whether valid or not, that our products infringe on their intellectual property rights, patents, copyrights, or trademarks. Further, intellectual property issues, such as ownership, copyright, and patentability, have not been fully settled with respect to AI technology. These claims, whether or not valid, could require us to spend significant sums in litigation, pay damages or royalties, delay product shipments, reengineer our products, rename our products and rebuild name recognition or acquire licenses to such third-party intellectual property. We may not be able to secure any required licenses on commercially reasonable terms or secure them at all, which could force our customers to stop using our products, or in the case of resellers and others, stop selling our products. In some cases, we may have agreed to contract terms that indemnify our customers and partners if our products or technology infringe or misappropriate specified third party intellectual property rights; therefore, we could become involved in litigation or claims brought against our customers or partners if our products or technology are the subject of such allegations. Any of these claims or resulting events could have a material and adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

In the ordinary course of business, we and the third parties with whom we work collect, receive, use, store, generate, transfer, dispose of, transmit, share, and process (collectively "process") sensitive, proprietary, and confidential information, including personal information, business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, and confidential third-party data (collectively "sensitive data"). As a result, we and the third parties with whom we work face a variety of evolving threats that could cause security incidents. Cyber-attacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our sensitive data and information technology systems, and those of the third parties with whom we work. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer "hackers", threat actors, "hacktivists", organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse or unintentional disclosure), sophisticated nation states, and nation-state-supported actors. Some actors now engage, and are expected to continue to engage, in cyber-attacks, including without limitation nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third parties with whom we work may be vulnerable to heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyber-attacks that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our goods and services. We and the third parties with whom we work are subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks, credential stuffing, credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, and other similar threats, including attacks enhanced or facilitated through the use of Artificial Intelligence ("AI"). Severe ransomware attacks are also prevalent and could lead to significant interruptions in our operations, ability to provide our products or services, loss of sensitive data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds for us and our customers. Additionally, future or past business transactions could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated systems or technologies. Security issues not previously discovered during due diligence may arise in such systems or technologies. In addition, our reliance on third parties could introduce cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, including supply-chain attacks, and other threats to our business operations. For example, we rely on third parties and technologies to operate some of our business systems and process sensitive data in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, and other functions. We also rely on third-party service providers to provide other products, services, or parts to our customers, or otherwise to operate our business. While we have instituted a third-party risk management process that is designed to account for third party specific risks, our ability to monitor these third parties' information security practices is limited. Third parties may not sufficiently maintain their information security measures or may change them without our knowledge or delay notification to us in a timely manner. If third parties with whom we work experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties' infrastructure in our supply chain or the supply chains of third parties with whom we work have not been compromised. While we may be entitled to damages if a third party with whom we work fails to satisfy their data privacy or security-related obligations to us, we cannot be certain that our applicable contracts with these third parties will adequately limit our data privacy or security-related liability to them or others, be sufficient to allow us to obtain indemnification or recovery from them for data privacy or security-related liabilities we incur that are caused by them, or be sufficient to cover all or any of our damages. Although we have multiple and layered controls and security measures in place designed to prevent and detect cyberattacks, experienced computer hackers are increasingly organized and sophisticated and we cannot guarantee that our security measures will be sufficient to protect against unauthorized access to our IT networks, software and systems. Malicious attack efforts operate on a large-scale and sometimes offer targeted attacks as a paid-for service. In addition, the techniques used to obtain access or sabotage networks change frequently, and we may be unable to anticipate such techniques, implement adequate preventative measures, or detect and stop security breaches that may arise from such techniques. As a provider of security solutions, we may be a more attractive target for such attacks. Other individuals or entities, including personnel or vendors, may also intentionally or unintentionally provide unauthorized access to our IT environments. We take steps to detect, mitigate, and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems (such as hardware and/or software). We rely on third parties for vulnerability reporting including severity assessments that help assess prioritization in applying patches. We may not, however, detect or remediate all such vulnerabilities including on a timely basis. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures and patches designed to address identified vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities could be exploited and result in a security incident. Any of the previously identified or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption that could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss alternation, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our sensitive data or our information technology systems, or those of the third parties with whom we work. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties with whom we work) to provide our products and services. Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us to notify relevant stakeholders, including affected individuals, customers, regulators and investors, of security incidents, or to implement other requirements, such as providing credit monitoring. Such disclosures and compliance with such requirements are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences. If we, or a third party with whom we work, experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience adverse consequences, such as government enforcement actions; additional reporting, disclosure, notification and/or oversight requirements; restrictions on processing sensitive data; litigation; indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss; and other similar harms. Security incidents and attendant consequences may cause customers to stop using our services, deter new customers from using our services, and negatively impact our ability to grow and operate our business.

We and our suppliers are subject to, and may become subject to, evolving laws and regulations pertaining to ESG matters. In addition, regulators, customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders are increasingly focused on ESG matters and related disclosures. These changing rules, regulations and stakeholder expectations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and increased management time and attention spent complying with or meeting such regulations and expectations. We also communicate certain ESG initiatives and goals in our public disclosures. Statements about our ESG initiatives and goals, and progress against those goals, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. If our ESG-related data, processes and reporting are incomplete or inaccurate, or if we fail to achieve progress with respect to our ESG goals on a timely basis, or at all, our reputation, business, financial performance and growth could be adversely affected.

We are subject to income tax in local, national, and international jurisdictions. In addition, our products are subject to import and excise duties and/or sales or value-added taxes (VAT) in many jurisdictions. We are also subject to the examination of our tax returns and other tax matters by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities and governmental bodies. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. Additionally, changes in or the improper application of import and excise duties and or sales taxes or VAT may negatively impact our operating results. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of these examinations. Fluctuations in tax rates and duties, changes in tax legislation or regulation or adverse outcomes of these examinations could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. There is increased uncertainty with respect to tax policy and trade relations between the U.S. and other countries. Major developments in tax policy or trade relations, such as the imposition of unilateral tariffs or international sanctions on imported products, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

The occurrence of a natural disaster, public health crisis, or an act of war or terrorism, or a decision or need to close any of our facilities without adequate notice or time for making alternative arrangements could result in interruptions in the delivery of our products and services. Our central business functions, including administration, human resources, finance services, legal, development, manufacturing and customer support depend on the proper functioning of our computer, telecommunication and other technology systems and operations, some of which are operated or hosted by third parties. While we have business continuity programs in place, a disruption or failure of systems or operations because of a disaster, public health crisis or other business continuity event could cause data to be lost or otherwise delay our ability to complete sales and provide products and services and provide the highest level of service to our customers. In addition, we could have difficulty producing accurate financial statements on a timely basis, which could have an impact on our ability to make timely disclosures and could adversely affect the trading value of our stock. Although we endeavor to ensure there is redundancy in these systems and that they are regularly backed-up, there is no guarantee that data recovery in the event of a disaster would be effective or occur in an efficient and timely manner. Our operations are dependent upon our ability to protect our technology infrastructure against damage from business continuity events that could have a significant disruptive effect on our operations. We could experience material adverse interruptions to our operations or delivery of services to our clients in a disaster recovery scenario.

We derive nearly all our revenue from the sale of products and services that are designed to allow our customers to assure the delivery of services through management of the performance and network security of applications across IP networks. We have expanded our operations in the past through acquisitions and organic growth and may continue to expand them in the future to gain share in the evolving markets in which we operate. Therefore, we must be able to predict the appropriate features and prices for future products to address the market, the optimal distribution strategy, and the future changes to the competitive environment. For us to be successful, our potential customers must recognize the value of more sophisticated application management and network security solutions, decide to invest in the management of their networked applications and, in particular, adopt our management solutions. Any failure of this market to continue to be viable would materially and adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. Additionally, businesses may choose to outsource the operations and management of their networks to managed service providers. Our business may depend on our ability to continue to develop relationships with these service providers and successfully market our products to them.