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Google Buyout Target Mandiant Maintains Cybersecurity, Incident Response Momentum

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Cybersecurity and incident response company Mandiant continues to show momentum amid the company's pending $5.4 billion sale to the Google Cloud business.

The anecdotal evidence: Mandiant's revenue was $138 million in Q2 of 2022, up 21% from Q2 of 2021. The results -- announced August 2, 2022 -- slightly exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Still, it's difficult to put the overall financial performance into proper context, since Mandiant will neither host an earnings call nor issue guidance for Q3 of 2022. Mandiant pointed to the pending sale to Google as the reason for the company's forward-looking financial silence.

We're also watching to see what the future holds for Mandiant founder and CEO Kevin Mandia. Among his recent moves: Joining the board of directors at cybersecurity startup Cybrary.

Google Cloud Buying Mandiant: The Cloud Cybersecurity Plan

Google in March 2022 disclosed plans to acquire Mandiant to boost its cloud security business. At the time, Google apparently was competing with Microsoft to acquire Mandiant, but Microsoft reportedly walked away from the negotiating table.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in July 2022 approved the pending Google-Mandiant deal, according to a July 15 filing with the SEC. The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of 2022.

With Mandiant, Google Cloud will deliver an end-to-end security operations suite and advisory services, the companies noted.

Prior to this deal, Google acquired Siemplify, a security information and event management (SIEM) platform provider, in January 2022. It also invested in Cybereason, an eXtended detection and response (XDR) software company, in October 2021.

Meanwhile, Mandiant separated from FireEye in 2021. At this time, Mandiant operated as a publicly traded company.

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Compete for MSSP Partnerships

In the cloud security market, Google faces steep competition as it tries to partner with MSSPs.

Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) continue to explore MSSP partnership opportunities. Both companies offer initiatives designed to help MSSPs use their offerings to deliver new managed security services.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.