The parent company of Google, Alphabet, is reportedly in negotiations to acquire the cyber security startup Wiz for approximately $23 billion. This would be the biggest acquisition that Alphabet has ever made. The talks may not go through because many aspects have not been worked out yet, according to a report from a well-known media outlet. A little over ten years ago, Alphabet paid $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility.
What is Wiz?
Wiz, with headquarters in New York and founded in 2020, has raised over $2 billion in funding. Assaf Rappaport, an Israeli entrepreneur and former Microsoft executive, is the CEO of this $12 billion firm. Thrive and Sequoia Capital are among its backers. Tel Aviv is home to Wiz’s R&D facilities.
With more and more enterprises storing data and software in the cloud, Wiz assists them in securing their cloud programs. Reports indicate that the company’s yearly recurring revenue has surpassed $350 million.
An agreement to purchase Wiz would rank among the biggest purchases of a company funded by venture capital in history.
This young company claims, on its website, to be “mission-driven to assist organizations in developing safe cloud environments that power their enterprises.” To rephrase, it is a cybersecurity company that aids businesses in protecting themselves from potential dangers when they utilize cloud computing services.
Colgate-Palmolive, AON, IHG Hotels & Resorts, BMW, and many more prominent brands are Wiz customers. In 2023, WIZ introduced its Digital Forensics capabilities, which enable organizations to promptly address threats in contemporary cloud environments by autonomously obtaining forensic-level detail on incidents through a cloud-native approach.
By downloading a forensic investigation package that contains the information needed for the incident’s first evaluation, businesses can quickly access the critical security logs and artifacts of the potentially infected system. Without executing any collection tools or scripts created in-house on the compromised workload, the forensics package is collected in an agentless manner.
Why is Google Showing a Keen Interest in Wiz?
The CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian, reportedly spearheaded the effort to purchase Wiz, according to a well-known news outlet. According to the article, Kurien and Google are working on a plan to elevate Google Cloud’s cybersecurity offerings.
It is believed that Google would make its largest acquisition to date if the $23 billion deal for Wiz goes through. Before this, in 2011, Google paid an astronomical $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola. The business, however, sold it to Lenovo for $3 billion two years down the road. One such cybersecurity company that Google purchased in 2022 for $5.4 billion was Mandiant.
Not long ago, Alphabet considered acquiring HubSpot, a provider of marketing tools for the web but ultimately opted against it. It looks to be shifting its attention now to strengthening its cybersecurity skills, perhaps through the acquisition of Wiz.
As of yet, neither Alphabet nor Wiz have made any statements about the potential merger. Because of the potential influence on cybersecurity and Alphabet’s bottom line, the IT industry is keeping a careful eye on the outcome of this massive transaction.
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It was around the 1990s when hacking cases were growing immensely strong, posing a potential threat to all the assets stored in cyberspace.
In a hyped-up world where everyone is too invested in virtual reality and the internet, shielding cyberspace is something that we don’t usually pay attention to.
The presence of a solid approach regarding cybersecurity is highly crucial for your organization’s data protection. It can deal with hacking cases and help monitor the entire operation to keep away from any kind of red flags. Early detection of cyberattacks can help save costs and time from further damage. For such prevention, cybersecurity firms exist to provide a defence mechanism against cybercrimes. A cybersecurity consultancy is a key business service that may significantly improve an organization’s data security.
If there’s any organisation that offers the best regular monitoring and reviewing operations related to cyber security, then it is Mandiant. The company was founded in 2004 by Kevin Mandia, Mandiant is an American cybersecurity firm that deals in providing dedicated strategies for the cybersecurity of private enterprises, government agencies, and law companies.
Let’s find out more about how Mandiant works, its founders and team, acquisitions, business and revenue model, the number of employees working, and a lot more other relevant information.
Mandiant was established in 2004 by a former the United States Air Force officer, Kevin Mandia. The company was previously known as Red Cliff Consulting.
As a publicly traded company, Mandiant is a cybersecurity firm and is regarded as the industry leader in threat intelligence and knowledge earned on the frontlines of cyber security by corporations, governments, and law enforcement organisations worldwide.
The company has a strong approach to offering a more assured approach by expanding its knowledge and intelligence through the Mandiant Advantage SaaS platform to offer current intelligence, automation of alarm investigation and prioritisation, and certification of security control solutions from many vendors. It has created the most complete collection of threat activity accessible by integrating machine, breach, adversary, and operational intelligence.
Mandiant boasts of having a comprehensive insight into global attacker behaviour, which is built into the Mandiant Intel Grid. Mandiant’s products are endorsed to deliver its clients an impressive cybersecurity experience. With a presence in almost 26 countries, Mandiant is located with experts like threat researchers, reverse engineers, intelligence analysts, and incident responders.
Mandiant’s team consists of specialists who have said to work on the front lines of cybersecurity throughout the world by mapping the threat environment, addressing the most complicated breaches, and actively working with the most recent technology stacks to suit the demands of any customer. As of 2021, Mandiant has a total of 1,000–2,000 people employed in its company.
It was recorded that during the pandemic in 2020, cybercrime rose to nearly 600%. There were many cybercrime and scams related to Covid-19, that people fell trapped into. Ever since lockdowns, there have been vulnerabilities in cyberspace. This only suggests that it is imperative to have a managed security provider for organisations and governments.
As a result, to prevent cyber attacks and crimes, there will be a growth of many cybersecurity companies and security operations centre services. It is expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2025 from $471 million in 2020 at a CAGR of 28.6%.
Mandiant – Founders
Mandiant was founded by Kevin Mandia in 2004.
Kevin Mandia
Kevin Mandia – Founder and CEO of Mandiant
Kevin Mandia, the founder of Mandiant, also serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board of Directors. As a former the United States Air force officer, Kevin served as a computer security officer in the 7th Communications Group at the Pentagon and was also a special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). From an educational perspective, he graduated from Lafayette College with a B.S. in Computer Science and has also earned an M.S. in Forensic Science from George Washington University.
Kevin Mandiant has 20+ years of experience in information security and has been on the front lines assisting corporations in responding to computer security incidents. Prior to Mandiant, Kevin played important roles in various companies related to information security.
Mandiant – Startup Story
Mandiant was initially founded as Red Cliff Consulting in 2004 and rebranded to Mandiant in 2006. It took some years for Mandiant to establish itself in the information security world. It was after receiving funds from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, an American Venture Capital firm, that Mandiant expanded its operations and started providing cybersecurity consultancy to leading global enterprises, governments, and Fortune 100 companies.
After making a name in the cybersecurity market, Mandiant released a report in 2013. The report was a study detailing evidence of People’s Liberation Army cyber assaults against at least 141 organisations in the United States and other developing nations dating back to 2006, carried out by Pudong-based PLA Unit 61398. During the same year, the company was acquired by FireEye (now Trellix) for $1 billion.
In 2020, Mandiant launched a program called ‘Mandiant Advantage’. It is a subscription-based SaaS tool meant to supplement and automate security response teams by combining Mandiant threat information and data from cyber incident response engagements.
Recently, Mandiant was acquired by Google for $5.4 billion to boost its in-house cyber security resources by integrating into the Google cloud division.
When the company was founded, it was named Red Cliff Consulting until rebranding to its current name, Mandiant in 2006.
The tagline of Mandiant goes like this, “Your Cybersecurity Advantage”
Mandiant – Mission and Vision
The mission of Mandiant states, “We are on a relentless mission to make every organization secure from cyber threats and confident in their readiness.”
Mandiant – Business Model
Mandiant operates on a B2B model by providing various services related to cyberattacks along with security consulting to many organisations and enterprises alike.
Mandiant services include a lot of cyber threat intelligence solutions, strategies, and other platforms for international businesses and government organisations to deal with cybercrimes and reduce threats of hacking.
Some of the major areas of services provided by Mandiant are:
Incident Response Service
Cyber Security Due Diligence
Cyber Security Program Assessment
Cyber Defense Operations
Microsoft Office 365 Assessment
Compromise Assessment
Cyber Defense Assessment
Incident Response Retainer
Cyber Defense Center Development
Applied Intelligence
Cyber Threat Profile
Cloud Architecture Assessment: Azure, AWS, GCP
Penetration Testing for Mobile
Penetration Testing for Wireless
The above-listed points are some of the services by Mandiant that help establish and implement critical security changes needed to have a proper and effective cyber defence system.
In addition to these services, Mandiant also offers a multi-vendor XDR platform that provides security teams of all sizes with experience and frontline intelligence. The platform is an automatic format that is powered through the automation of Mandiant expertise that automatically controls its customer’s existing security investments. The Mandiant Advantage Platform also offers flexible delivery of engagement as per customers’ requirements. The platform also constantly monitors its customers’ attack surface and internal controls to drive prioritisation and focus on any kind of threats.
Mandiant – Revenue Model
Mandiant Sales/Revenue from 2017 to 2021
As per Mandiant financial reports, the company derives a majority of its revenue by offering threat intelligence and consulting services. Besides this, the company’s recurring revenue continues to grow at a CAGR of 24%. Mandiant reported revenue of 483.4 million USD for the year 2021 which was nearly a 20% increase from the 399.7 million, revenue recorded in 2020.
Mandiant – Funding and Investors
Mandiant has received $70 million in investment across two waves. Their most recent funding came from a Private Equity round on July 22, 2011.
Date
Funding Round
Funding Raised
July 22, 2011
Private Equity Round
$70 million
October 19, 2006
SERIES A
—
Mandiant is backed by four investors. The most recent investors are JP Morgan Chase and One Equity Partners. The other two investors are Kleiner Perkins and Jim Ellsworth.
Mandiant has acquired two companies. On August 10, 2021, the company made its most recent purchase of Intrigue Corporation. The other company acquired by Mandiant is Unveillance on September 10, 2012. The amount for both acquisitions is undisclosed.
Mandiant – Challenges Faced
In the digital era, cyber crimes go hand in hand, which is why the need for a cyber security strategy is essential. As Mandiant focuses on providing security services to combat threats, one of the biggest challenges for them is to stay updated regarding the various types of cybersecurity challenges like phishing attacks, cloud attacks, cryptocurrency and blockchain-related attacks, etc. The company needs to push its business against data security dangers.
Mandiant – Social Media Presence
Mandiant has its presence on almost all major social media channels.
You can follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Mandiant has posted various videos on cyber crimes happening around the world on its YouTube channel. Through its videos, the company highlights the consequences of a cyber attack and how important it is to stay updated and have a strong security strategy.
Not so long, the company launched a campaign #StayRelentless against cyber threats with Mandiant. The video speaks about how Mandiant has the potential to fight the continuous battle against cyber criminalities in the modern day of digitisation.
Mandiant Advertisement – StayRelentless Against Cyber Threats
Mandiant – Awards and Achievements
Below is the list of awards and achievements won by Mandiant:
Mandiant has won SC Europe Awards – 2022.
Mandiant won the Top Work Places – in 2022.
Mandiant received Global INFOSEC Awards Winner – Cyber Defense Magazine – 2022.
Mandiant has won CRN Security 100 – 2022.
Mandiant was the winner of the Cyber Security Excellence Awards – 2022.
The company plans to continue building Mandiant Advantage strategy, automating human tasks and applying machine learning to create a super analyst. Also, the acquisition of Mandiant by Google is proof that the company’s business is only going to upscale. Google’s decision to acquire Mandiant for boosting its cloud security business can only tell that Mandiant’s revenue growth can touch an unexpected height. With this only time can tell what exactly the future holds for Mandiant.
FAQs
What is Mandiant used for?
Mandiant is known for providing threat insights to public and private organizations in the early stage through its unmatched intelligence and response expertise.
Is Mandiant a US company?
Yes, Mandiant is a US-based company with its headquarters situated in Reston, Virginia, USA.
Does Google own Mandiant?
Google acquired Mandiant on 8th March 2022 for $5.4 billion. Google acquired the company with the aim to establish a stronghold in the cloud market.
Does FireEye own Mandiant?
No, FireEye does not own Mandiant anymore as last year in 2021, they announced their split. FireEye acquired Mandiant in 2013. However, it became a standalone business in 2021 when its product business was sold to the private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) for $1.2 billion.
Who are Mandiant competitors?
Some of the prominent competitors of Mandiant are:
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