The nations of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa (BRICS) aired their concern about alleged cyber snooping practices on citizens, businesses and government officials. At the margins of the 68th United Nations General Assembly, the foreign ministers of the BRICS nations said the unauthorized interception of communications compromised national sovereignty. They also said it violated individual rights.

The concern came after reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US was cyber snooping into Internet communications of officials and leaders of various nations.

According to Reuters, cybersecurity companies had become in high demand in the US as the threat of online crimes continued to proliferate. Last week, the shares of cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc increased to 80% in its trading day debut. At one point, FireEye shares doubled its original USD 20 per share IPO price, trading at USD 44.89 per share. It later closed at USD 36 per share for a gain of 80%.