Alphabet
’s
GOOGL
division, Google recently inked an agreement to acquire a cybersecurity firm,
Mandiant
MNDT
, in exchange for $5.4-billion cash.
Mandiant offers advanced capabilities that help in combating cyber attacks. The company’s managed detection and response service provides continuous monitoring, thereby providing additional security to customers.
To validate and measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity controls across cloud and on-premise environments, Mandiant’s Security Validation acts as a key feature. Further, the capability complements Google Cloud’s Security Command Center to strengthen risk management.
Further, customers can analyze and streamline threat response by leveraging Mandiant’s Automated Defense along with Google Cloud’s Chronicle and Siemplify solutions.
Mandiant will be part of Google Cloud and complement its strong portfolio of cybersecurity solutions.
Hence, we believe the buyout will strengthen Google’s security operations and cloud business.
The underlined acquisition is anticipated to be completed by year-end.
Growing Cybersecurity Efforts
We note that the latest move bodes well for Google’s strengthening efforts toward bolstering cybersecurity offerings.
Apart from the Mandiant buyout, the company acquired a leading provider of security orchestration, automation and response named Siemplify to help business organizations better manage their threat response.
Further, Google Cloud’s robust security solutions portfolio — which includes BeyondCorp Enterprise, VirusTotal and Chronicle’s planet-scale security analytics and automation tools — remains noteworthy.
All these endeavors are expected to position Google well to capitalize on the prospects present in the booming cybersecurity market.
The market is witnessing significant growth due to the increasing number of e-commerce platforms and the growing usage of machine learning, IoT, and cloud. Further, growing investments in Internet security solutions by government organizations are driving the market.
Further, increasing demand for online learning and remote working amid the coronavirus pandemic has been leading organizations to adopt cybersecurity platforms. This in turn is creating growth in the underlined market.
Per a
report
by Mordor Intelligence, the global cybersecurity market is expected to reach $352.25 billion by 2026, witnessing a CAGR of 14.5% between 2021 and 2026.
Further, this market is likely to hit $366.10 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 12% from 2021 to 2028, per a
report
by Fortune Business Insights.
Competitive Scenario
Given this upbeat scenario, not only Google but other companies like
Microsoft
MSFT
and
Amazon
AMZN
are consistently making efforts to provide enhanced data and Internet protection services.
Microsoft has been gaining momentum in the cybersecurity space with its growing portfolio of security solutions. Further, its cloud computing arm, Microsoft Azure is equipped with enhanced data protection capabilities as it rapidly identifies threats and accordingly takes quick action.
The company recently teamed up with At-Bay to provide business enterprises with data-driven cyber insurance coverage products through Microsoft security solutions and Microsoft 365. Under this agreement, all enterprises in the United States that deploy Microsoft 365 can avail savings on their At-Bay cyber insurance policy premiums. This remains noteworthy.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services offers a wide range of security services and features, including encryption, key management and identity as well as access management. Further, AMZN’s open-source AWS Secure Environment Accelerator feature helps government organizations to deploy and operate multi-account AWS environments securely. This is a positive for the company.
Additionally, the company introduced two cybersecurity initiatives — Amazon Security Awareness and Multi-Factor Authentication — to educate individuals and business organizations about cybersecurity and protect them from cyber attacks.
Nevertheless, Google’s increasing strategic acquisitions in the cybersecurity field are likely to give tough competition to the abovementioned peers.
Currently, Google’s parent Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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