Google To Buy Mandiant: The 5 Biggest Things To Know

From Microsoft recently halting plans to acquire Mandiant to Google’s upcoming joint technology plans for Mandiant, here are the five biggest things to know about Google Cloud’s acquisition of Mandiant.

In a blockbuster security move, Google is spending $5.4 billion to acquire threat intelligence and cybersecurity services superstar Mandiant in a move to take Google Cloud’s security business to the next level.

“Together we can make a profound impact in securing the cloud, accelerating the adoption of cloud computing, and ultimately make the world safer,” said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in a statement Tuesday.

Mandiant is set to become part of Google Cloud this year as the companies unveiled plans for Google Cloud to buy Mandiant for $23 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.4 billion.

It is key to note that this marks the second largest acquisition in Google’s 23-year history, trailing only the search giant’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility a decade ago in 2012. Google Cloud’s acquisition of Mandiant is subject to Mandiant stockholder and regulatory approvals and is expected to close later this year.

From Microsoft recently bowing out of its reported interest in buying Mandiant to Google Cloud’s technology synergy plans for the security all-star, CRN breaks down five of the most important things you need to know about Google Cloud’s planned acquisition of Mandiant.

‘Shot Across The Bow’ Of AWS And Microsoft

Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are the three largest public cloud players on the planet, each striving to become the most secure cloud provider.

“In a nutshell, this deal was a shot across the bow from Google to Microsoft and Amazon,” wrote Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst, in a recent note. “We believe today’s deal is the tip of the iceberg to a massive phase of consolidation potentially ahead for the cloud space.”

Like AWS and Microsoft, Google Cloud believes the cloud represents a new way to change the security paradigm by helping organizations address and protect themselves against entire classes of cyberthreats, while also rapidly accelerating digital transformation.

In fact, Microsoft was reportedly in talks to buy Mandiant earlier this year.

However, Microsoft pulled out of talks with Mandiant more than a week ago over concerns that Mandiant’s security business wasn’t a good enough strategic fit, according to a Monday report from Bloomberg.

The Purpose: Boost Google Cloud Security

Google Cloud is buying Mandiant with the purpose of taking its Google Cloud cybersecurity and threat intelligence capabilities to the next level.

Google Cloud plans to combine its cloud-native security offerings with Mandiant’s security advisory and incident response services to bring in-depth threat intelligence to help enterprises globally stay protected at every stage of the security life cycle.

Mandiant’s technology will boost Google Cloud’s existing strengths in security. Google Cloud provides a set of security services including pioneering capabilities such as BeyondCorp Enterprise for Zero Trust and VirusTotal for malicious content and software vulnerabilities; Chronicle’s planet-scale security analytics and automation coupled with services such as Security Command Center to help organizations detect and protect themselves from cyberthreats; as well as expertise from Google Cloud’s Cybersecurity Action Team.

With Mandiant’s technology, Google Cloud said it will enhance all of these offerings to deliver an end-to-end security operations suite with even greater capabilities to support customers across their cloud and on-premises environments.

Recent FireEye Sale Made Mandiant Vendor-Agnostic

On Oct. 8, Mandiant completed the sale of its FireEye products business to McAfee Enterprise, owned by Symphony Technology Group, for $1.2 billion.

With the sale of Mandiant’s network, endpoint and email security product business to McAfee Enterprise, the company’s Mandiant Advantage SaaS platform became vendor-agnostic.

FireEye’s products sat alongside the Mandiant consulting and incident response portfolio, with solutions including threat intelligence and its response services business.

In 2021, Mandiant generated $483 million in revenue, representing an increase of 21 percent from $400 million the year prior. The company recorded net income of $918 million due to the sale of its FireEye product business.

Founded in 2004, Reston, Va.-based Mandiant is a threat intelligence and security defender standout. The company has more than 600 security consultants who respond to thousands of breaches each year.

Google Cloud And Mandiant CEOs Weigh In

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian (pictured) and Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia released bullish statements on the acquisition and future ahead inside Google Cloud.

“Together we can make a profound impact in securing the cloud, accelerating the adoption of cloud computing, and ultimately make the world safer,” said Google Cloud CEO Kurian. “The Mandiant brand is synonymous with unmatched insights for organizations seeking to keep themselves secure in a constantly changing environment.”

Mandiant’s CEO said there has never been “a more critical time in cybersecurity” than today.

“Cybersecurity is a mission, and we believe it’s one of the most important of our generation,” said Mandia. “Google Cloud shares our mission-driven culture to bring security to every organization. Together, we will deliver our expertise and intelligence at scale via the Mandiant Advantage SaaS platform, as part of the Google Cloud security portfolio.”

Kurian said organizations are facing unprecedented cybersecurity 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.

“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,” Google Cloud’s CEO said.

5 Big Technology Wins For Google Cloud Customers

Google Cloud specifically highlighted five big technology synergies ahead as Mandiant gets pulled into its cloud security business.

Google’s advisory services business will get a huge shot in the arm due to Mandiant’s proven expertise in providing comprehensive incident response, strategic readiness and technical assurance to help customers mitigate threats and reduce business risk before, during and after an incident.

Mandiant’s renowned threat detection and intelligence experience in detecting and responding to advanced adversaries will now provide Google Cloud customers actionable insight into the real-time threats.

Security operations tools within Google Cloud’s Chronicle, Siemplify solutions and Mandiant’s Automated Defense will better help customers analyze, prioritize and streamline threat response with the ability to leverage Mandiant’s expertise as a virtual extension of their teams.

Google Cloud will absorb Mandiant’s Security Validation organization that helps customers continuously validate and measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity controls across cloud and on-premises environments. The Mandiant Security Validation will complement Google Cloud’s Security Command Center to help ensure strong risk management.

Google Cloud will now be able to leverage Mandiant’s managed detection and response service that acts as a seamless extension of customers’ security teams—delivering continuous monitoring, event triage and threat hunting that’s agnostic to customers’ endpoint and network tooling.