Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Mandiant Corp, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on US companies.
FireEye shares jumped more than 20% after Thursday's announcement of the $1.05 billion cash-and-stock deal, which FireEye said closed on Monday. It unites two companies with relatively new technologies for thwarting cyber attacks, and brings together two of the most-respected executives in the security industry: FireEye CEO Dave DeWalt and Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia (photo).
While sales of older anti-virus products have been on the decline, security experts expect strong growth in both FireEye's cloud-based systems for detecting malicious software and Mandiant's software that analyzes cyber attacks.
About a year ago the two companies entered into a technology development agreement that made it easier to deploy their products together. With the merger, FireEye will gain Mandiant's team of forensics investigators.
Mandiant is best known for its forensics services. The company rose to prominence in February 2013 when it published a report detailing what it said were links between a Shanghai-based unit of the People's Liberation Army and a long list of attacks on U.S. companies. Beijing denied all allegations in the report.
FireEye's rivals include Palo Alto Networks Inc, which went public in 2012 in one of that year's most successful IPOs.
Mandiant was founded in 2004 by Kevin Mandia, a former U.S. Air Force cyber-forensics investigator who co-authored an influential textbook on the subject. The company made its name by automating processes used to investigate computer breaches.
The company was largely unknown outside the computer security world until February of last year, when it fingered the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind a Chinese hacking group known as APT1.
Mandia was named FireEye's Chief Operating Officer. He said in an interview that he plans to move to Silicon Valley, where FireEye has its headquarters, from the Washington D.C. area.
Source: Reuters
