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Google Buying Mandiant for $5.4 Billion in Cloud Security Coup

• By Gladys Rama
• March 08, 2022

Google's cloud business is set to get a major cybersecurity asset with its planned acquisition of Mandiant for $5.4 billion.

The deal, announced Tuesday, is expected to close by year's end, pending regulatory and stockholder approvals. Under its terms, Mandiant's full portfolio of cybersecurity analysis, threat tracking and incident response technologies will become part of the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Founded in 2004, Mandiant's ranks include over 600 security consultants and 300 researchers. The company provides various cybersecurity consulting and monitoring services, including the Mandiant Advantage XDR, or extended detection and response, security platform. The Advantage platform promises to give organizations real-time security insights into their entire environments using four modules: Automated Defense, Threat Intelligence, Security Validation and Attack Surface Management.

Mandiant recently launched a resource center specifically to track cybersecurity threats emerging from the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Executives from Mandiant and Google alluded to the heightened risks to enterprises from nation-state attacks as a key driver of the acquisition.

"Organizations around the world 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," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of GCP, in a prepared statement, while Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia noted, "There has never been a more critical time in cybersecurity."

Partners of both companies stand to benefit from the deal, as well, according to Google in its announcement: "Google Cloud is deeply committed to supporting the technology partners of both companies, including the endpoint ecosystem. This acquisition will enable system integrators, resellers and managed security service providers to offer broader solutions to customers."

Gordon McKenna, CTO of public cloud at GCP partner Ensono, noted that the deal "is a clear and strategic sign for  Google partners to update their security profile, as well, helping to improve protection for the entire cloud ecosystem."

Industry watchers are touting the Google-Mandiant deal as a boon for GCP, which has historically played third banana to cloud juggernauts Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. In a comment to media, Wedbush Managing Director Dan Ives described it as "a shot across the bow from Google to Microsoft and Amazon, adding in a Tweet, "We believe this deal will have a major ripple impact across the tech space."

Jared Cheney, vice president of services at IT services firm SoftwareONE, characterized it as "a massive step forward" for the cybersecurity market. "As part of the three of the largest private cloud providers, including Microsoft and AWS, Google's decision to join forces with Mandiant is right in line with what companies want and need right now -- seamless security solutions for all of their customers."