FireEye expands cloud security with Cloudvisory acquisition


Nicole Kobie

22 Jan, 2020

Security firm FireEye has acquired Cloudvisory, aiming to bring cloud visibility tools to its offering.

The buyout was for an undisclosed sum and is FireEye’s seventh acquisition. Last year, the security firm bought Verodin for $250 million (£190.4 million) and in 2014 bought Mandiant for $1 billion.

“Customers need consistent visibility across their public and hybrid cloud environments, as well as containerised workloads,” said Grady Summers, Executive Vice President of Products and Customer Success at FireEye. “Cloudvisory delivers this visibility and allows FireEye to apply controls and best practices based on our frontline knowledge of how attackers operate.”

Cloudvisory’s system was created to provide visibility into network traffic, spot and fix misconfigurations, and keep an eye out for compliance issues. On the security front, it claims to detect, block and quarantine attacks.

Summers notes that’s key, as most companies see security as a leading concern with using the cloud. “Security is top of mind for almost all organisations as they migrate critical workloads to the cloud,” Summers adds. “With the addition of the Cloudvisory technology, FireEye is able to offer a comprehensive, intelligence-led solution to secure today’s hybrid, multi-platform environments.”

The acquisition will see Cloudvisory’s capabilities added to FireEye’s Helix, letting customers see all of their cloud environments from one single dashboard, expanding monitoring and compliance.

“Joining FireEye offers Cloudvisory a unique opportunity to combine our innovative approach to cloud visibility and FireEye’s unrivaled insights into the threat landscape,” said Lisun Kung, Cloudvisory co-founder and Chief Executive Officer prior to the acquisition. “We’re excited by the potential to quickly scale and help more organisations secure their cloud and container workloads.”

Alongside the acquisition, FireEye’s Mandiant division also unveiled a pair of new cloud-focused services.

The first is Cloud Security Assessments, available for Office 365, Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. These will look for common misconfigurations and other issues with cloud that attackers use to slip past security measures. “Through tactical coaching and comprehensive recommendations, organisations achieve increased risk visibility and enhanced functional capabilities,” the company said.

The second new service is Cyber Defense Operations, which offers hands-on support and training to help in-house detection and response take a step up. The process begins with an evaluation to highlight goals and capabilities, such as threat hunting.

Then Mandiant personnel will offer training, analysis and other support within the client’s environment. “Through this process, areas for maturation are identified and pursued, helping to identify and resolve visibility gaps and procedural issues,” the company says.

“Our Cloud Security Assessments and Cyber Defense Operations consulting services are two new offerings to help clients protect their key assets before, during and after an incident,” said Jurgen Kutscher, EVP of Service Delivery at FireEye.