FireEye pays $1bn for Chinese APT hacker trackers Mandiant

FireEye has acquired security firm Mandiant in a $1bn deal that is designed to offer its customers improved protection against advanced cyber attacks.
The deal is a notable coup for FireEye as Mandiant hit the headlines last year when it reported linking over 141 advanced cyber attacks on Western companies to a Chinese military unit based in Shanghai's Pudong district in 2013.
The acquisition will see FireEye integrate Mandiant's existing endpoint threat detection and response technologies into its Oculus threat prevention platform. The deal follows a wider partnership by FireEye and Mandiant. In April 2012 Mandiant became a strategic alliance partner of FireEye.
Chief executive of FireEye, David DeWalt, said the combination of technologies will help it offer a raft of key services to companies that are facing an increasing number of advanced threats targeting their systems.
"Organisations today are faced with knitting together a patchwork of point products and services to protect their assets from advanced threats," said DeWalt.
"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 organisations around the world at a pace that is unmatched by other security vendors."
The deal will see Mandiant's founder and chief executive officer, Kevin Mandia, become senior vice president and chief operating officer of FireEye.
The deal follows signs that the cyber threat facing businesses will escalate in 2014. In December, widespread reports claimed the Israeli and Saudi Arabian governments are working to create a new, even more destructive variant of the notorious Stuxnet malware.
Already in 2014, both Snapchat and Skype have been hit by hackers, as the risks posed to firms of all sizes and in all sorts of industries, continues to escalate.