Google LLC has announced a definitive agreement to acquire cyber security firm Mandiant Inc. for $23.00 per share, with the company set to join Google Cloud upon the deal’s completion
In an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion (subject to customary closing conditions), the planned acquisition of FireEye subsidiary Mandiant by Google looks to complement Google Cloud security, delivering an end-to-end security operations suite for customers.
Expected to close later this year, capabilities brought by Mandiant will entail threat intelligence gained on the frontlines of cyber security, and help Google Cloud enterprise customers globally stay protected at every stage of the security lifecycle.
The acquisition will also see the addition of:
- Advisory services for mitigating threats and reducing business risk before, during and after an incident;
- The combination of Mandiant’s Automated Defense with Google Cloud’s Chronicle and Siemplify solutions, bolstering automation and response tools;
- Mandiant Security Validation, helping users validate and measure effectiveness of cyber security controls across cloud and on-premise environments;
- Managed detection and response from Mandiant, which will act as an extension of customers’ security teams, delivering agnostic continuous monitoring, event triage and threat hunting.
Additionally, the deal will enable system integrators, resellers and managed security service providers to offer broader solutions to customers.
Strong cloud security, now more than ever, is calling for rapid detection and response, along with automated and analysed threat intelligence.
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“Organisations around the world are facing unprecedented cyber security challenges as the sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target major governments are now being used to target companies in every industry,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.
“We look forward to welcoming Mandiant to Google Cloud to further enhance our security operations suite and advisory services, and help customers address their most important security challenges.”
Kevin Mandia, CEO of Mandiant, commented: “There has never been a more critical time in cyber security. Since our founding in 2004, Mandiant’s mission has been to combat cyber attacks and protect our customers from the latest threats.
“To that end, we are thrilled to be joining forces with Google Cloud. Together, we will deliver expertise and intelligence at scale, changing the security industry.”
The importance of business integration
As tech partnerships become increasingly vital in keeping organisations secure, a clear post-merger integration plan is vital to maintain business-critical applications, IT systems and data.
Mike Kiersey, director of global technology, EMEA at Boomi, explained how such an integration of business capabilities can truly be a success: “Both companies involved need to understand the importance of a harmonised infrastructure, and the severe implications of a failure to integrate two different systems.
“Business integration needs to be swift, broken down into manageable chunks and with seamless application and data integration for all services. In this way, data points become more accessible and clear, united by a master data management solution able to cross departmental and geographic borders in an agile yet controlled manner.
“At the crux of M&A success lies a strategy able to make the data accessible and provide the correct governance. For a fully successful merger, both parties will need to be able to access raw data from a single platform, based on which the company can decide which innovation approach to take for customers, partners and employees moving forward.”
