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.
The Internet Society’s six-month Fellowship Peering program continues to help make internet access affordable, dependable, and resilient. The program, according to the global charitable organisation, is targeted for fifteen professionals in the peering and interconnection sector.
“It offers a unique opportunity to build the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary to improve local Internet infrastructure and policy,” according to the site’s description.
The fellowship participants will participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes virtual training sessions, collaborative forums, and technical and advocacy-based instruction on routing, Internet Exchange Points, and policy.
The fellowship culminates in attendance at a global peering event, which provides direct experience and networking opportunities with important voices in the Internet community.
The fellowship enhances participants’ impact in their particular nations by developing engagement with seasoned professionals and boosting regional and global collaboration. The program invites fellows to return to their communities prepared to expand interconnectivity, improve policy conditions, and make a meaningful contribution to the development of the Internet ecosystem.
Applicants must have at least three years of Internet experience and be based in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Asia-Pacific.
Eligibility also required proper travel documentation and availability to attend important events such as African Peering and Interconnection Forum, Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Forum, or Peering Asia, as well as a commitment of roughly four hours per week over six months.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the withdrawal of the amendment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 because it seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.
The organisation in its letter urged Mr Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, and Mr Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to “immediately withdraw the repressive bill.”
The titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters among others intends to regulate bloggers, including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers.
Currently, the bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter signed its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It demanded an end to “the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and Internet-based content.”
In the letter dated April 12, 2025, the group said, “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.”
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill to regulate the activities of bloggers, and should any such bill be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” the organisation warned.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has issued a public advisory warning Nigerians about a fraudulent website impersonating the Google Play Store.
Mrs Hadiza Umar, head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations at NITDA, made this known on Friday in Abuja.
Umar stated that the fake website was distributing a new malware strain known as the Play Praetor Trojan.
“Cybercriminals are using fraudulent websites designed to mimic the Google Play Store to lure victims into downloading malicious applications,” she said.
She explained that the fake Play Store links were being circulated through various social engineering tactics, including phishing emails, malicious advertisements, and SMS messages.
According to Umar, once the fake application is installed, the Play Praetor Trojan gives attackers unauthorised access to the victim’s device.
“This access can lead to data theft, credential harvesting, financial fraud, remote control of the device, and further malware deployment,” she warned.
She urged the public to download apps only from the official Google Play Store or other trusted sources.
Umar also advised users to verify app developers, read reviews before installation, regularly update their devices and apps to patch vulnerabilities, and use reputable mobile security solutions to detect and block threats.
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