It's no secret that the Defense Department faces draconian budget cuts if Congress can't avoid its latest standoff by March. Between that and the winding down of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, defense companies have been facing a relatively lean future, and those stocks have lagged the S&P 500 (SPX) for the past year.

But even as troops come home, the U.S. faces a new kind of military threat from hackers. To wit: A report from the computer security firm Mandiant has linked China's People's Liberation Army to a large number of cyberattacks on U.S. government agencies, corporations, and media companies including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. (The New York Times hired Mandiant to investigate a spate of computer hackings that occurred over the past four months.)

Unsurprisingly, some companies -- particularly those focused on cyberwarfare -- will escape the budgetary downdraft and enjoy increased funding. "Governments globally will increase spending onmaritime and border security and protecting critical infrastructure," says Douglas Baker of Monument Capital, a private equity (PE) firm that's raising a fund to invest in security and defense companies.

Read More: Fortune