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Google’s $5.4 billion acquisition more than doubles Gafam 2021 cybersecurity Spend
March 2022 by Edith Muthoni
Tech giants Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft (GAFAM) have been spending heavily to fortify their systems against cyber exploits. In 2021 the quintet spent $2.4B in fending off cyber attacks. And as per a recent tradingplatforms.com analysis, expenditure is about to more than double. This follows Google’s acquisition of cybersecurity outfit Mandiant for a whopping $5.4B.
It is no secret that the GAFAM firms are prime targets for hackers. That’s because they’re treasure troves of information on individuals and organizations. So given the frequency and severity of cyber-attacks recently, they’ve been increasing their investment in cybersecurity.
“Cyber threats have grown by leaps and bounds as businesses embrace remote working,” says tradingplatforms.com’s Edith Reads. She adds, “ So far, the GAFAM firms have succeeded in fending off most cyber attacks. But the dangers still lurk and grow larger every day. If anything, the recent SolarWinds attack shows how vulnerable organizations can be to a complex cyberattack. That informs Google’s push.”
The SolarWinds’ influence
Google’s acquisition of Mandiant is a shot in the arm for the company. Before, it had lagged behind Microsoft and Amazon in cloud-based cybersecurity solutions.
This acquisition will enable Google to reduce its time to respond to and contain cyber threats. Again, it bridges the divide between it and others in the provision of cloud-based cybersecurity solutions.
There is no doubt that last year’s SolarWinds’ breach influenced Alphabet’s move. Experts believe that Mandiat’s acquisition will spur other firms to increase their security spending as well. They say big tech companies will continue investing in cybersecurity solutions to safeguard their systems first. But they’ll also be looking to recoup some of these costs by selling their solutions externally.
The SolarWinds hack dealt a bodyblow to corporations that rely on third-party vendors for their IT systems. It exposed critical weaknesses in third-party IT systems that many considered safe against cyber exploits. Besides significant financial loss, it damaged the reputations of companies.
Mandiat will enhance Google’s competitiveness
Mandiant is a renowned threat intelligence provider that tracks nefarious cyber activity by state actors, individuals, and gangs. It has a close working relationship with the American government. It played a critical role in investigations on the Colonial Pipeline hack. In 2020 it exposed the SolarWinds hack, a cyber espionage campaign by Russia on the US.
As stated earlier, this acquisition will enable Google to match Microsoft’s cloud services capabilities. The latter has an established threat intelligence unit. Moreover, it acquired several cyber security outfits such as ReFirm labs and RiskIQ. Analysts insist that the acquisition is defensive and strategic as it’ll help Google compete better against Microsoft Azure and AWS.
Google provides its cloud software customers with cyber security services. These include Chronicle and Security Command Center. The tools assist users in detecting and defending themselves from cyber risks.
