right now. adp disappointing, didn't really matter. they are throwing out everything in february. all we want to see is what's going on in march. >> hopefully the weather is better in march.ç that does it for us. >> that's right. that will do it for a wednesday edition of "power lunch." >> breaking news on the fed and the economy just moments away. "street signs" begins right now. see you tomorrow. welcome to "street signs." the federal reserve releasing its beige book for february saying severe weather impacted much of the united states economy during the period. the economy, however, continued to expand with eight districts of 12 improving and most of the economic gains however were modest to moderate. retail sales, auto sales, vast swaths of the economy weakened due to weather. real estate, however, continued modest improvement in several areas. many districts citing low home inventories and continued home price appreciation. employment levels gradually improved for most districts and there were skilled labor

shortages that continued throughout the economy. wage and price pressures. let's get to the impact of the weather. vast swaths, different places. rail cargo volumes declined in the dallas district. nine districts reporting a hitch in their manufacturing sectors. crops damage in richmond and atlanta. energy drilling declined in minneapolis. that includes the north dakota area with all the shale gas there and oil. hiring slowdown in boston, richmond and chicago. ski resorts inç richmond, including some of the blue ridge areas there, kansas city and minneapolis, hotels in atlanta and boston benefited from the weather along with increased energy demand. we did a weather gauge on this, guys. the mentions of weather in the beige book. in the february 2014 beige book, 119 times. there's the comparisons. 21 times in january, just 18 times a year ago in the march 2013 index. january 2012 was 13 times but that was because of mild weather. so guys, i think the market knew

this but this is perhaps confirmation of how much the weather has impacted the economy. and probably sets up an excuse that the market's going to give the labor report on friday. >> when you look at the market record highs, it really feels like the market by and large has been giving this economic data a bit of a free pass because of the weather but my question is for how much longer? you can't keep using weather as an excuse. >> i think there are two parts of this excuse. one is going to be on the down side and the other part's going to be on the upside. we will see how much the market gets excited if we have something of a bounce-back. we have mark zandi say this morning he could see numbers like 250k come the spring. that also should be tempered with the idea that's a bounce-back from the weather. what surprised me about this report was allç of the areas where the economy was hit. we know we have seen it in the broader economic data but some of the specifics here tell me that maybe there is something more real to this weather story than perhaps we are giving credit for. >> or one of the federal reserve governors on the beige book

basically sat there and said the word weather over and over again until somebody hit him in the head and he stopped talking. >> first they wrote it down. that is a distinct possibility. i can talk to my sources about whether or not that was why it resulted -- >> 190 mentions of weather. that's incredible. thank you so much for the breaking news. >> you missed his pun completely. thank you. today's show all about risk. overall, seems like no matter what gets thrown at this market, we keep going up. we will make the case for stocks today. riding shotgun for the next hour is a man who knows a lot about risk, and reward, robert herjavec. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> okay. so you as a native canadian, correct, were moaning about the weather. that must mean it's really bad. >> you are so soft. canadians never moan about the weather. we are used to bad weather. >> we talk about the impact on the economy here. you are a guy involved in all these different businesses. you buy new businesses all the time. >> you got the upside of that.

look at some of the retci that are doing great. the numbers are fantastic. people are buying skis, buying snowmobiles. there is two sides of that coin. >> they are buying snowmobiles to commute to work. >> this show is all about taking risk, taking a big bet. what are you taking a big bet on right now? >> i'm being on this show, frankly. >> a risk of doing badly, you mean? >> being here with the%ñ two o you, i'm taking a big bet. i'm a big believer in technology. i'm putting a lot of money into the tech sector. >> tech is a very broad umbrella. what kind of tech? >> great question. most people when i tell them i'm in tech ask me to fix their laptop. i'm in cybersecurity. i'm in a very narrow niche of the computer business. this is the best time to be in our field in 30 years. >> it almost feels like companies can't keep up with the threats that are appearing. you invest $1 million in cybersecurity and suddenly there's a new threat you have

absolutely no defense against. you have to keep on investing, keep on sinking more and more money. >> you do. >> almost like the perfect business model. >> i was joking, i will get in trouble for saying this, i was joking with robert in the green room before the show saying if i ran a cybersecurity business, i would just hire a bunch of eastern european hackers to bother eveçrybody, then i woul be like you need me. >> i think -- >> vertical integration. i'm obviously being sarcastic but can we ever, do you think, solve this problem or is this really going to be an issue forever, it will just evolve? >> we will never solve this problem because the attack vector keeps changing. currently there are about 2.6 billion people on the internet, about four billion i.p. addresses which is your address whenever you are online. by 2021 there will be 343 trillion i.p. addresses and five billion people. think about that. all of those addresses are a way to invade your company. we are not just seeing the eastern hackers now.

we are seeing state sponsored cyberterrorism. don't think about it for a moment but we are waging a war much bigger than the cold war against cyberterrorism. these are governments attacking companies here in the united states and they are stealing oil secrets, stealing health care records, stealing all kinds of stuff. >> this is the perfect setup because later in the show, we have the ceo of a website that is currently being cyberhacked and cyberharassed. we will get your thoughts on that later on. in the meantime, let's take a look at what the markets are ç doing. the s&p 500 hit another all time high earlier today. stocks keep going up. is now the time to get a bit more risky? let's make the case for stocks. joining us is brian and michael. thank you very much for joining us. you know what, i want to say that it almost feels like there is absolutely no alternative. stocks might not be perfect but where else would you go. is that the case you would make?

>> well, that's exactly right. there's a couple reasons why we think stocks make some sense here, although we are wobbling a tad bit at these new all time highs. the first is the alternative. if you are stuck in the sort of cash bond stock triangle, boy, there's nowhere else to go. while stocks are getting a little expensive, they still offer you the best next three, five, probably ten year return by quite a margin, actually, over cash and bonds. >> but mike, i will push back on you because i'm tired of hearing that we are sort of the last person standing and therefore, the best investment. the kid picked last for the kickball game is still in the game but it's not exactly a boost of confidence. you are not exactly making a strong argument for the stock market as much as you are saying everything else sucks. >> yeah. well, i don't disagree with that. >> that's a technical term.ç >> yeah. if interest rates were 5% or 6% you would get a different answer out of my mouth. i think the other thing here that's got to be paid attention to is the yellen put.

i think we have to really understand and see how she reacts when we have a very, very challenging environment for her. you can make a case where you start to see the market down 10% or 15% because the economic data is starting to weaken, we get poor unemployment numbers and the pressure on her to begin to slow or stop the taper and maybe go the other way would be immense from the politicians. i think the market is realizing that and saying hey, there's a floor underneath here, we are not going to be able to fall a whole lot more before we get a relatively dovish yellen to help out. i think that's also another reason why the market's going up. >> mind you, yellen has already put it out there, it would take a significant change or deterioration in economic data for them to change course on the taper. nonetheless, what is the case you make for stocks? make it a good one. >> i think we look at the stock market and do see some opportunities out there. it might be a little more selective than it was say a year or two ago but we feel we can

still find companies that are growing well and are pretty reasonably valued relative to the growth rates. we areç not investing in stock just because we don't have a choice. rather, we still see some good opportunities though i will admit -- >> like what? >> -- there are a little fewer. >> snowmobiles, apparently. >> well, like snowmobiles. i didn't know you guys were going to segue into that. polaris is a company we have owned for several years. that to me is one of those opportunities that's still growing. it actually was hit a little bit this year. it's interesting hearing you talk about the weather. it was hit earlier this year on kind of consumer slowdown concerns. some of those related to weather which was a bit unusual because the weather actually helped the snowmobile part of their business and got a little better opportunity to get in on that type of company. some of the others like fortune brands home and security is clearly a company that's tied to the housing market.

providing we keep seeing recovery there, that's a company that will continue to do well. >> don't you think that you are seeing a real uptick in investment by large enterprises? we sell to a lot of large enterprises and the cost of money today is basically zero. i'm old enough, i remember the really high interest rates and i think you will see low interest rates for a long time. my customers are investing in capital equipment, capitalç inventory and i think we are going to see a real uptick in the next 18 months in enterprise production in north america. >> what do you think, brian? >> i think you could certainly see that. >> so mike, let's follow up on robert's point. if that happens, number one, that's what we have been needing to see for years. my only concern is the market tends to be ahead of the actual event. >> agreed. >> is that already priced in? >> no, i don't think -- >> -- i think what you're seeing now is the optimism and the trickle investment and the big investment's to come. i think the market's well

priced. >> you were going to make a point, mike? >> yeah, i think we're talking about shareholder yield, total shareholder yield. what do companies do with the enormous amounts of cash they have. clearly they are buying back shares, increasing their dividend. i think the m & a market and growing by inorganic growth, if that makes sense, is a strong place to be. we expect to see that more often. we like the midcap area because that seems to be where most of the market m & a acquisition stuff is happening. that's an important part of the attractiveness of stocks as well. >> i like the midcap market but i hate when companiesç use tha extra cash yield to buy back. >> yes. >> it doesn't hire anybody, doesn't invest in anything, doesn't give anybody a raise. it helps shareholders but -- >> i understand for wall street guys like most of the people here, it increases yield in the short term and gets the stock value up. but i like to see companies spend that money on increasing

output, hiring more people. i don't see enough of that. that worries me. >> thank you guys very much. we will leave it there. you make an excellent point, obviously. you are a successful guy. companies, they tell us all the time i can't vest, i don't have the demand. you don't have the demand because nobody has a job to buy your stuff. somebody's got to blink first. right? someone's got to blink. and invest in somebody and something so that somebody can get the job to increase the customer -- >> i have to tell you, we see a lot of customers and there's a real sense of optimism in america. i know it's very popular to beat up on america and the american dream and all that stuff but i'm sensing a real sense of optimism in corporations that they are investing back in their companies. >> we will talk more about that in just a second. if that is the case for stocks, maybe you think we're wrong. tomorrow we make the case for bonds. if you thinkç everything we sa so far is total bunk, tune in. bill gross will make the case for certain kinds of bonds he likes.

on deck, we will help you de-risk. if you are nervous about the equity markets but don't want to sell yet, we will offer you a very simple option strategy, inexpensive, and you can do it from home. today's mystery chart has everything to do with risk. okay. i got some great clues for you. one of the best performers in the s&p 500. here's a hint. boterro. that's your hint. >> good hint. good hint. >> more coming up. also ahead, biotech. one of the riskiest plays in the market but with great risk sometimes comes great reward. you want to get in before that big reward hits. plus a massive twitter red flag down under. could this spell trouble for the company here? we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

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robert jumping right in there. >> looking for ways to spend our mon money. >> some things making people nervous about the market is the performanceç of the momentum stocks. names that are leading but seen as a bit risky. we ran a screen earlier today, sort of picked the names that are outpacing the s&p 500 this year, have high-ish relative valuations. i know you can grow into valuation but they are still up there and also, a higher than average amount of short interest. those are your momos, folks.

look, they are all up again today. netflix, electronic arts, facebook, akamai, blackberry, my favorite, and tesla, all up more than 20% this year. four of those six are up more than 30% this year. two of them have doubled. valuations be darned, those stocks have run and are running today. >> they really are. tesla, you kind of expected to have an incredible run. but blackberry as you say is the real standout surprising one here. 35% to the upside just year to date. a real comeback story there. i think facebook's price target was raised to $82 from $77. what do you think about momentum stocks? >> is blackberry really a surprise? john has done a great job there. he could have gone one of two ways. could have gone to zero or gotten a bit of a bump. i'm not bullish on it yet. >> there were more people thinking zero lastç year than e other side. >> the patent and cash position is worth more than the stock value today, basically.

i'm going to argue look, whatsapp sold for $19 billion for a messaging system that had a smaller amount of users, wasn't as robust as blackberry's so i would argue it's actually worth more than the stock. >> i would argue with you that you just made the counter argument for buying blackberry. >> the counter argument. >> because if whatsapp is worth that much, isn't that really saying blackberry messenger isn't? because facebook views whatsapp as the messaging app of the future and bbm, the messenger, where everybody put all their value, maybe doesn't have value. >> i'm not going to argue because it's your show -- >> no, no, that's why we brought you on. >> i do think blackberry has intrinsic value because of security software. it's a secure messaging system everybody uses, including president obama. he still uses a blackberry to this day. i think there's a lot -- >> would you invest in blackberry? >> i'm very uncomfortable with it because i think that market today is ruled by the consumer. enterprises don't buy equipment

and hand it to employees anymore. they let them bring their own. the problem with blackberry, it's not cool. so consumers aren't buying it. but i think there's an upside there. >> bring your device to work.ç >> if we see john chen on "shark tank" i'll know there's a problem. would you like 10% of -- no. breaking news coming out of paris. the meeting between secretary of state john kerry and the foreign ministers of france, britain, russia and ukraine has ended. michelle caruso-cabrera has more. >> you will be shocked to hear, no agreement. there have been reports from other agencies there had been an agreement between the united states and russia, but no, senior state department official saying there is no agreement between -- after this conclusion of this meeting in paris. russia's foreign minister did say that he will continue discussions to see the best way to deal with the stabilization of ukraine and he did confirm that he did not in a weird sort of way meet with ukrainian foreign minister as well. once again, the meeting has

concluded and apparently there has been no agreement reached. back to you. >> thank you very much for the breaking news, michelle caruso-cabrera. i would like to get your thoughts on this. your family is from croatia. you fled the former yugoslavia when you were 18, went to canada. what are your thoughts? >> it amazes me the market is hitting new highs because as a guy from eastern europe, it scares me. i think there could be a very volatile situation there. what people in this country don't understand is there is no such thing as kq ukrainian. that country is divided among people that are pro-russian and pro-ukrainian and it could be a real civil war there. >> you think we are underestimating putin? >> i think we are severely underestimating him. i think he's using it as a power grab to take over that region. that region takes you to the port. without that region, the ukraine will -- >> talking about sevastopol? >> yeah. they will have a very difficult time getting back on their feet. he won't let it go. does anybody here think that now that he's in there, he will just step back?

>> i do. >> why do you think that? >> because i got back from sochi, i was at the olympics, okay, and they have invests $50 billion to $70 billion, maybe more, in bringing people to this region, making it a destination. if you start rattling this kind of stuff up, you have basically thrown your $50 billion to $70 billion down the drain because you are scaring everybody. armies are marching down vail, no one is going. >> it was a vanity play for him to make him feel good with his buddies. i don't think he cares what you think or whether you show up in his resort next year. he is never going to get out of there. >> we have to leave it there. you can talk -- >> ukraine is beating usa in soccer 1-nil. ukraine.ç >> how about that. one part of the energy sector is getting a nice jolt today. we will tell you which it is,

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we have talked about some hot stocks so far on the show this time, but none have been hotter than these. look at the alternative power fuel cell stocks. ballard power, fuel cell energy, plug power, not doing a lot today. however, plug power, this is not a misquote, guys, i had to trouble check it when i looked at the data, plug power in the last 12 months is up 3800%. they got a deal with walmart buying fuel cells for forklifts at a couple distribution centers. 3800% in 12 months. >> you put me on the spot and i was thinking well, 100%, whatever. i thought it was a typo as well. here's the thing. i think the thinking behind some

of the gains we have seen in the last couple days for these fuel cell makers like plug power is electric cars could extend their range using that type of technology. but elon musk is out there on the record, saying he thinks fuel cells are absolutely not the solution. he's an electric car man through and through. >> that's the challenge. there are other type of alternative power battery technologies that are coming up and if those come out, all this stuff is for naught. >> very good point. let's turn from alternative energy to traditional energy. sharon epperson is at the ihs conference. sharon, we will hand it over to you. >> reporter: thank you, mandy. of course, freesport lng will start constructing at the end of this year a $14 billion export terminal here in texas and with plans to get that gas online by 2018. i'm joined by the ceo, michael

smith. of course, much of the talk here at this conference has been on russiaç and the ukraine. you say u.s. natural gas exports could help to neutralize russia. how will that happen and when? >> certainly by the end of the decade, russia supplies europe with over 30% of their natural gas and for germany, well over 50%. lng from the united states by the end of the decade could supplant about 10% of that. so it would be very, very helpful. >> freeport lng last week had a $100 billion plus investment from some asian firms into this export facility, many of your customers will be in asia. how can freeport lng in particular gain market share in europe? >> most of our customers plan on bringing it to asia which is the highest priced market. i can tell you just yesterday, i had one of the senior executives

from gdx suez who is a large company from paris say to me that we may be the market of last resort but the gas that we send to asia will force the gas over to europe and that will force the gas out of europe that they don't need toç pipe gas fm russia. it's all intertwined. whatever the u.s. produces and hopefully, this first wave of gas coming from the united states could displace that gas coming from russia. >> how soon do you think that could happen? >> the plant will be up in '16, '17 but all four or five should be up and operating fully by 2020. >> that sounds good. all that means for the consumer and for prices that we pay? >> we don't see this changing the consumer hardly at all because there is so much gas in

the united states, we have large fields in the united states. we are not even drilling because we have so much gas and prices are so low. >> thank you very much, michael smith, for joining me. we'll have much more from the conference coming up. back to you. >> thank you very much. anyone up for stocks? the one stock that is moving today because the world can't seem to get enough of this particular drink. we will tell you what it is. we are getting closer to revealing today's mystery stock. our first hint was boterro. next hint, at night.

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street talk time. time to hit the stock news and views you can actually use. we will call it street talk. our first stock is brown-forman. this is enjoying upswing today, gain of about 3%. got an upgrade to buy from neutral. >> this is the parent company of jack daniels, finlandia and southern comfort which some of my college friends called breakfast. the target is $98, 12% upside. third quarter profit from 12%. analysts expect strong revenue and eps growth, whiskey and

liquors have been hot. >> the whole american craft experience. stock number two, a big story actually, but in the wrong direction. shares of xoom underweight. >> big call here. money transfer company. evercore slapped a $15 target on it. the target $15, current price $27 and change. priced about 40% below the price this morning. watch xoom. >> for anyone thought there would be a backlash against guns, think again. smith & wesson, very impressive better than expected quarter. >> hand gun sales up 30%. the target here, raise to 16 from 14, stock's already basically at 14 bucks. smith and wesson up 36% in the past year. this is a 2.50 stock back in

september of 2011. >> our next stock may be an under the radar name. we always have one of them for you. it's not a small one. it is colfax, reinstated a buy. >> probably the biggest under the radar name we have done. $8 billion market cap company. i never heard of them. they are a maker of everything from pumps for pipelines to metal for welding. industrial fluid dynamics company. the target here, $83, about 18% upside to the price this morning. stock's already up 60% in the past 12 months. that would be a good ceo to get on. industrial guy, manufacturing. >> and if he or she is listening, that is an open ç invitation. >> today, a jim cramer stock to watch. earlier today, i heard jim talk a lot about auto zone. he was positive. he also highlighted a lot of positive analyst calls and much higher price targets on azo. let's dig in. brian detrick on the charts, on

the financials, oppenheimer financial. >> i would say i'm neutral. auto zone is one of the best run companies in retail and in many ways, it's a model for the retailers but the stock at this point is rather fairly valued. >> you think it's fairly valued. do the charts back that up or say something different? >> i think the charts look good. if you look at this chart here, it's been sideways for almost three weeks. i like that kind of slow stair-stepping higher. what i like is yesterday on earnings the shares went lower, kind of got the bears excited, then just as quickly, the shares finished off the lows. we call it a bear trap. to me that's a bullish sign from yesterday and that tight pattern, i expect all time highs in the next week or two. this looks really good. >> fundamentally, you think there's a reason why the stock could go down? >> actually, i want to say this correctly. near term it's probably going higher because if anything else, the weather.ç yesterday we spoke with the senior management team, the really harsh weather across the

country is definitely a positive for auto zone because there will be a lot of people fixing their cars. i think you will see sales improve in the next couple quarters. that could be a near term positive. as i look across retail, i think relatively speaking, auto zone is fairly valued. >> guys, thank you very much. appreciate it. next up, we reveal the mystery stock. here's our final hint. the final hint, golden flower. despite its incredible run, should we make a big bet in biotech right now? the popular website hacked and held hostage over $300. but the ceo will be here and will tell us why he is refusing to back down on this. first, a preview of what is ahead on "the closing bell." >> mandy and brian, hello. we will talk energy and security. we will hear from christie todd-whitman, the former new jersey governor on the future of nuclear power in this country. also, michael chertoff, former head of the department of homeland security, will talk

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time to reveal today's mystery chart. one of the best s&p 500 performers this year. we gave you the hints. the answer? somebody got it right away. it was wynn resorts, up 27% this year, more than doubled in the past year, and the names i gave you are the names of the restaurants and nightclubs in their properties. isn't that true? >> it is absolutely true. i have been there, i have stayed there. what i'm amazed by, you gave one clue. >> one guy's like wynn. >> asç opposed to the colombia sculptor and artist.

>> we have the smartest audience of all. speaking of winning, get it, biotech stocks have been soaring. the nasdaq biotech index is up 18% this year. stocks in the sector can see wild swings, though, like up 25% today, down 25% tomorrow. the question is, is it worth the risk? let's bring in sam isley. we got on to this segment because we were saying when you see a biotech stock pop like 50% because it's had a really positive late stage trial, it's almost too late, right? you need to be able to pinpoint the names that are going to pop that have the promise and get in ahead of time. can you name some of those stocks that our viewers need to know about? >> there are lots of these so-called binary events. we look at them, we participate in some of them and frankly, i don't want to tell you what they are. because we could be long and soon putting our own funds to work there.

>> which sectors are hot sectors that really do warrant looking at? >> i could tell you a couple good stocks that are there but theyç are not near term dependt on binary events, put it that way. if i can go that direction, i'm happy to. >> go ahead, sam. >> okay. with respect to big companies, the one i find most attractive is regeneron. it trades on nasdaq. they have one new product which is very big, it's already a multi billion dollar product for treatment of blindness in older people, and it is providing the profit to fund a wonderful discovery research program. so we like the new products that are beyond this one so regeneron, we think, will be a great stock. >> it has been. it's basically doubled, up 98% in the past 12 months. so as great as you think this company is, wouldn't you be smart to trim a little bit of your holdings, say i'm going to

take a little profit here? >> i'm sorry, i don't want to be that smart. this is going to be a great stock -- >> you're that convicted. >> i would buy it today. >> you would buy it today. isn't it already around all time highs? >> lots of stocks are at all time highs. you can't shake me out of a good stock because it's hit an all time high. >> what do you think about that, robert? >> i think it's great having sam on. he was about to give usç some great tips, then he said i don't want to tell you any. reminds me of the time i was with warren buffett, he said let me give you a great stock tip, buy berkshire hathaway. how about the early stage stuff? give me the stuff that hasn't had the binary trials. >> the sharks are biting at me at the moment. i would like to draw on another one that i like a lot. that's called intermune. i believe you had the chief executive on your show not too long ago. the stock more than doubled in a day. >> we had him on before that, in january.

we had him on again to follow up. >> well done. we think it's going higher still. we think in may it will start moving that way because all the new data that were so-called top lined are going to be revealed in detail at a meeting of the american thoracic society. we are looking forward to that day. we are looking forward to those data. we expect the stock to continue moving up. >> got to leave it there. thank you very much for joining us. intermune and regeneron. what do you make of this? i know sam doesn't believe biotech is in a bubble but it has been a word thrown out there. is biotech an area you are at all interested in investing in? >> you really have to knowç th space. i think it's like computer security. you got to really be an expert in that. i think you are right, you got to get in very early. biotech is one of those things when it's obvious that the stock is doing well, it's probably too late. >> absolutely. >> except if it got that next -- that's the thing. they trade on these trials, then hopefully they come to market and probably sell out to a

bristol myers or merck. the biotechs -- >> in that market it's really distribution. once you get beyond a certain size, there are very few companies that have the scale to distribute the product. >> to mandy's point, it's been so hot. almost every name is soaring. everything is green, green, green. >> people are getting old. people are getting sick. >> the drugs can be $80,000 a year. if you're not covered by insurance, you are done. >> obama care. >> if you only have one drug, make it a blockbuster. got to leave it there. we have breaking news. steve? some impromptu remarks from janet yellen at a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony. she was sworn in several weeks ago. she says the u.s. economy has come a long way but still has further to go. promises to build on the transparencyç legacy of ben bernanke and specifically mentions his press conference

with maybe some hit she might extend the number of press conferences. doesn't say it explicitly but you can read it that way. she says too many can't find a job or are forced to work part-time and the u.s. economy is operating considerably short of the fed's employment and inflation targets. finally, she promises quote, never to forget that individual lives are behind the statistics. striking a bit of a populist tone there. >> certainly is. >> i like her. >> i like the human element behind the statistics. she talks a lot about unemployment. anyway. up next, a website gets hacked and the hackers are demanding $300 to give back the site. the ceo is here to tell us why he refuses to pay up. he's agre. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪

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target's chief information officer quit today, taking the fall for the dataç breach just before christmas that impacted millions. while we're on the topic of cybersecurity, the ceo of meetup.com got a strange e-mail from hackers saying quote, a competitor asked me to perform a denial of service attack, kind of shut down the website, on your website. but for $300, i won't do it. basically extorting the ceo who

then said no, by the way, that guy, the ceo is with us right now. scott, it's a weird story. to be frank, it seems a little weird, hard to believe. exactly what happened? >> i agree. it's good to be here. yeah. to be here. yeah, got an e-mail 10:00 a.m. on thursday morning saying that if we don't pay $300, our website and our apps will be attacked, and we have fended off attacks before, but this time they actually took us down. >> why did you refuse to pay the $300? did you feel that would be the start of a slippery slope? >> exactly, exactly. plenty of companies, you know, just -- they pay that kind of ransom and çmore. we believe that there would be a slippery slope. >> good for you. it's no different than any kind

of terrorism. you pay the $300, then they'll ask you for $1,000, then $5,000. how did you overcome the attacks? >> did you put the websites out over other servers? >> it was put -- yeah, we have a crack systems team that worked day and night for the four or five days we were going through this, and we were able to beef up security stronger and stronger. >> what's really interesting -- this is called the d-dos attack. what happens is the bad guys take over servers from all over the world, and they attack a targeted website. >> my cf o brendon mcgovern has a great way of explaining it. manage you have a retail store like my parents ran a paint store in homewood, illinois. imagine millions of zombies showing up at the store getting in the way of customers getting in. >> but you have paid millions of

dollars to beef up your cyber security. what if you're a small company afford to pay for that kind of security? you're a sitting duck. >> very simple, you have to host your site at a data center and a third party that's going to do it for you. they start moving your site around the world in case you get attacked. >> thank you for the compliment. my point, scott, was kind of like if your ib m nobody is going to come after you because you have the resources to fight back. for you, a bigger midsized site, you're doing well enough that you need to be up, but you're not raking in billions of dollars of revenue where you can hire hundreds of people to combat that kind of stuff. >> we are 100 people. you have a target on your back. it is a good point. listen, the googles and amazons, and facebooks of the world, they have a target on their back but they're able to absorb a bigger hit. i think it's important if we're

going to have an economy full of midsized companies and small companies that solutions for them, you know, companies like cloud flare and others are providing protection. >> how often is this happening? this has hit the news -- >> every day. happens every day, mandy, and the problemç is this is not an attack that takes them. scott is having a hard time running his business. it's hard to get the police involved or care enough to help you. you have to take care of yourself. >> thank you very much. good luck. thanks for sharing your story with us on cnbc. >> we're in good shape now. >> good to hear. so what is the biggest there et to social media? it's not what you think. it's not cyber hacking. stupidity. next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals,

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and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. a real wake up call for all social media. paying 100 grand to a former teacher. it's the first case to go to trial in australia and the court ruled the student's posts about the teacher just made them unable to return to work on a full-time basis. i don't know the legalities. but $100,000 in australia would probably be $1 million in

america. >> listen, this is interesting because that facebook story about the $80,000 posting, and to me it's not a funny story. it's a real threat because if people can start to get at those -- we know there's a lot of snark. when it gets nasty, if this precedent comes here, it's a real risk for social media. it is but the problem is most of this stuff is by young kids. i'm not sure that the people using social media understand. it's not like publishing something in the newspaper where you're going to get sued for that. these are kids -- >> i was a dumb kid, i don't know if that's an excuse. >> there's an element of that. somebody has to patrol that. somebody has to control that. >> but if twitter needs companies to make money, needs the big companies to invest, if they see it as simply just, you know, the bathroom wall -- >> shouldn't there be a certain amount of filtering. even on live tv we have a bit of a gap. even on live tv if i say something wrong -- >> no, no, no.

>> don't do it. >> they're going to get business. they have to control more of that. >> how do you control it without infringing on free speech? >> there's a balance. >> will we find the balance? on't know. >> and if there's too much regulation it takes the fun out of the whole point of twitter. >> they'll figure it out. >> a little gem of advice from you and then one thing you always say is you don't have to have money to make money which is something i like. everybody can have a shot at hitting it big. >> you have to invest in stuff you understand. you know, when it becomes popular media, it's probably too late. i always tell people invest in an area you have some element of firsthand knowledge. >> some of the stuff people bring in, you wonder where they come up with the ideas. it's crazy. why they think it's a good idea. some of them you think they don't realize it's as big as it could be. the one i remember is the nose covers. >> that was huge. i offered a guy $5 million.

>> and he turned it down. >> my kids were so thankful. >> but he had one order i think from overseas, saudi arabia, and for these things that basically cover your nose, prevent germs from going up. you offered him like a million, four or five. he said no. >> we have a lady come on the show, and she had spent $50,000 on a horrible idea and i asked her where did you go to get advice? and she said i went to my friends and family. and i always say don't go to your friends and family. their job is to love you, not tç invest. >> who do you go to? >> go to a customer. pick up a phone and call a customer. they're the ones that are vested. i don't know why people are afraid to pick up a phone and call a potential customer. >> we have to leave it there. we can see you and the rest of the gang, the rest of the sharks, every week right here on cnbc. "shark tank" tuesday starts at :00 p.

8:00 p.m. every tuesday. >> i hope you will come back despite the abuse you took this hour. >> there's a lot of sharks in australia. >> i'm very comfortable with sharks. >> they nibble at your heels. markets, where are we? >> the s&p hit a record high earlier on today but down monday, big tuesday. the nasdaq is up. thanks for watching "street signs," everybody. "the closing bell" is next. and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm scott wapner today in for bill griffeth. we're watching a market that's going to be a dog fight now in this last hour for positive and negative territory. the s&p earlier hit a new high. now it's going to be arfight. it's down a point or so, but materials, financials, and industrials are the ones leading the way today. there you can see the dow and the s&p still negative. nasdaq though making its way positive. >> coming up on today's show