NEW YORK, March 8 — Google announced today a deal to acquire the cybersecurity firm Mandiant for about US$5.4 billion (RM22 billion), one of the tech giant’s biggest purchases ever as it works to bolster its cloud computing offer. 

Mandiant, which helps customers prepare for or deal with cyberattacks, is expected to join Google Cloud this year, if the acquisition is approved by regulators.  

Google is seeking to boost its cloud computing offering, which faces fierce competition from Amazon and Microsoft. 

"Organisations 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,” Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said in a statement. 

Google already offers various services such as VirusTotal, which analyses suspicious files to detect malware, or BeyondCorp Enterprise, which allows secure access.   

Mandiant, founded in 2004, specializes in cyberattack preparedness consulting and incident response services.   

Its shares jumped Monday as news of a coming deal began to circulate, and by Tuesday they up roughly eight per cent over the past five days. 

"In a nutshell this deal was a shot across the bow from Google to Microsoft and Amazon with this flagship cyber security acquisition of Mandiant,” said Wedbush analysts. 

The deal could have implications for the entire cybersecurity industry as Amazon and Microsoft are now under pressure to make acquisitions and further strengthen their own cloud platforms, Wedbush added.  

Among the potential targets, it added, are Varonis, Tenable, CyberArk, Qualys, Rapid7, SailPoint, and Ping. — AFP