E-Business
FireEye Acquires Mandiant for Approximately $1Bn
FireEye, the leader in stopping today’s advanced cyber attacks, has announced that it has acquired privately held Mandiant, the leading provider of advanced endpoint security products and security incident response management solutions.
The acquisition, which recognizes the ever-increasing intensity of cyber attacks and follows nearly two years of collaboration, creates the industry’s leading advanced threat protection vendor with the ability to find and stop attacks at every stage of the attack life cycle.
The transaction closed on December 30, 2013.
The combination of FireEye and Mandiant brings together two highly complementary companies, each a recognized leader and innovator in security, and creates an organization uniquely qualified to meet organizations’ needs for real-time detection, contextual threat intelligence, and rapid incident response.
FireEye pioneered the use of virtual machine technology in security with the introduction of its purpose-built virtual machine-based Multi-Vector Virtual Execution (MVX) engine.
With more than two million virtual machines deployed worldwide, the company’s virtual machine-based Web, email, data center, and mobile security solutions provide real-time, dynamic threat protection to more than 1,500 government, enterprise, and small and mid-sized customers.
Mandiant is an acknowledged leader in endpoint security, incident response, and remediation, with more than two million endpoints installed globally.
As a trusted security advisor to more than one-third of the Fortune 100, Mandiant’s experts have responded to hundreds of high-profile security incidents and bring deep security and incident response expertise to FireEye.
The combined organization unifies the critical components required to provide state-of-the-art cyber security: the most complete library of actionable threat intelligence on advanced threats and a product suite that can apply that intelligence to detect and prevent attacks on both the network and on endpoints.
This powerful combination of security products and threat intelligence is enhanced by expert security consulting, incident response, and managed security services enabling organizations to improve their security posture and resolve security incidents whenever and wherever they arise.
“Organizations today are faced with knitting together a patchwork of point products and services to protect their assets from advanced threats,” said David DeWalt, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of FireEye.
“Together, the size and global reach of FireEye and Mandiant will enable us to innovate faster, create a more comprehensive solution, and deliver it to organizations around the world at a pace that is unmatched by other security vendors.”
Mandiant expands FireEye’s ability to stop advanced attacks at the earliest phases of the attack life cycle with: Endpoint Threat Detection, Response, and Remediation Products.
Mandiant pioneered and continues to lead the industry for endpoint-based advanced threat detection and response. Mandiant’s endpoint products, which are already integrated with the FireEye platform, enable security teams to make faster, more accurate decisions about potential security incidents while eliminating blind spots by connecting the dots with the FireEye network-based threat detection and prevention platform.
Kevin Mandia, Mandiant’s founder and chief executive officer prior to the acquisition, has been appointed by the FireEye board of directors to the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer of FireEye.
Mandia has been profiled on the cover of Fortune magazine and recognized by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the 100 leading global thinkers of 2013.
“The combination of FireEye and Mandiant will deliver end-to-end protection and meaningful value to customers,” said Mr. Mandia.
“By joining FireEye and Mandiant, we will be able to deliver fully integrated products and services that help organizations protect themselves from attacks. The combined product portfolio will cover all the major attack points within an organization, and our expanded services capacity will allow us to quickly pivot to incident response when necessary to reduce the impact of security breaches.”
Mandiant will be integrated with FireEye to provide global services and cloud solutions, including security consulting, incident response, and managed services. Mandiant’s endpoint threat detection and response products will be incorporated as a core element of the FireEye Oculus platform.
The acquisition was approved by the shareholders of Mandiant and the boards of directors of both companies. Under the terms of the merger agreement, FireEye will issue an aggregate of 21.5 million shares and options to purchase shares of FireEye stock and pay approximately $106.5 million of net cash in the transaction to the former Mandiant security holders. In addition, FireEye granted certain performance-based retention equity incentives.
Nigeria has taken a major step toward strengthening its digital governance framework as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) officially assumes control of the Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) infrastructure.
The handover ceremony held in Abuja, marks the culmination of a high-level partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
This transition signals a shift from fragmented IT projects to a unified, disciplined approach to national digital investment.
The NGEA initiative forms a core part of the e-Government Masterplan 2.0 (Ne-GMP 2.0), aimed at establishing a unified and structured approach to managing government IT investments and digital resources.
The framework is designed to ensure that technology deployment across public institutions aligns with national priorities while improving efficiency and accountability.
With the system now operational, government agencies are expected to adopt more integrated digital processes, allowing seamless data sharing and interoperability.
This is anticipated to reduce duplication, strengthen risk management, and translate policy objectives into measurable digital outcomes.
Over the past two and a half years, Nigerian technical experts worked closely with their Korean counterparts to develop the architecture framework, create reference models, and execute pilot programmes in key institutions.
These include the National Identity Management Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, and NITDA.
Officials say the NGEA represents a shift from fragmented digital efforts to a more coordinated, citizen-focused system.
The infrastructure is hosted by Galaxy Backbone Limited, providing a secure and reliable platform for nationwide deployment.
Looking ahead, NITDA is expected to work with government stakeholders to expand and sustain the system, while the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy will provide policy guidance to ensure its adoption across the country.
Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, has said the government is shifting focus from expanding access to ensuring “meaningful connectivity” that drives economic growth and inclusion.
Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy
The minister made the statement on Friday while addressing stakeholders at the inauguration of board members of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) in Abuja.
He said that although Nigeria had made significant progress since the introduction of GSM services, millions of people, particularly in rural and underserved communities, remain either unconnected or unable to fully benefit from digital services.
Dr Tijani highlighted ongoing investments in digital infrastructure, including plans to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic network and nearly 4,000 telecom towers nationwide.
He said initiatives under the USPF had improved access through projects such as rural connectivity and digital facilities in schools but stressed that the next phase must prioritise effective usage.
“It is not enough to connect a community. We must ensure that schools can teach with digital tools and that small businesses can access market opportunities,” he said, citing a pilot project in the Kura community where connectivity has enhanced access to communication, education and healthcare.
Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also called for a shift towards meaningful connectivity, noting that while data usage had grown significantly, it remained concentrated in urban areas.
According to him, recent data shows that telecom usage has increased by about 160% over the past two years, largely driven by urban demand.
“When we drill down, we see that a lot of that growth is actually in urban centres. So, the gap between those who are not connected or not meaningfully connected is growing,” he said.
Dr Maida added that the trend underscored the need for the USPF board to intensify efforts to bridge both access and usage gaps across the country.
Both officials emphasised the importance of collaboration, sustainable investment models and improved digital literacy to ensure that connectivity translates into real economic benefits for Nigerians.
A jury in Los Angeles has found technology companies, Meta and Google liable for contributing to a young woman’s social media addiction, in a case being described as a landmark ruling.
The 20-year-old woman, identified only as Kaley, argued that she became addicted to Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram from an early age due to their attention-driven design features.
According to her testimony, she began using YouTube at the age of six after downloading the app on her iPod Touch to watch videos about lip gloss and online games.
Kaley told the court that she joined Instagram at nine, bypassing parental restrictions put in place by her mother, and spent extended periods on social media.
The trial, which lasted about a month, with arguments and evidence from both sides.
Jurors also heard testimony from Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive, Meta and Adam Mosseri, Instagram head.
However, Neal Mohan, YouTube chief executive, did not testify.
The jury found that the companies were negligent in the design of their platforms and failed to adequately warn users about potential harms. Meta and Google were ordered to pay the woman $3 million in damages.
Jurors also recommended additional punitive damages, including $900,000 against YouTube and $2.1 million against Meta, according to company spokespersons.
The jury apportioned 70 per cent of the responsibility to Meta and 30 per cent to YouTube.
Kaley was present in the courtroom when the verdict was delivered, alongside parents of other teenagers who say they were harmed by social media use. Both companies said they plan to appeal the decision.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online”, a Meta spokesperson said.
José Castañeda, Google spokesperson, said the case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.
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