FireEye (FEYE, Financial) is an US network security company that provides automated threat forensics and dynamic malware protection against advanced cyber threats, such as advanced persistent threats and spear phishing. The company has been growing on the back of increased high-profile data breaches. Dozens of companies have suffered data breaches in the recent months, and as a result FireEye’s revenue has been climbing up consistently.
The cybersecurity market is expected to grow in the coming months as Gartner anticipates the total information security spending to jump 8.2% this year, to $76.9 billion. FireEye has taken some shrewd steps to benefit from this growth and looks set to continue its stellar run this year.
New deal with Marsh
Marsh, a worldwide leader in insurance broking and risk management, and FireEye, the frontrunner in stopping today’s radical cyber-attacks, declared a collaboration to provide customers Marsh Cyber OASIS (Objective Assessment Scorecard of Information Security). This facility is intended to assists customers by delivering an objective evaluation of their organization’s skill to identify and respond to cyber-attacks, and the strength of their technical arrangement.
Huge data fissures have led to pricing and capacity volatility in the cyber insurance market, mainly in the retail and health care segments. Although companies are spending millions of dollars on cybersecurity controls and facilities, the effectiveness of these investments is not every time clear to underwriters. With the collaboration of Marsh and FireEye, it will help customers deliver the objective and additional detailed information that will advantage insurance markets to better recognize their risk profile.
The Marsh Cyber OASIS procedure starts with an onsite valuation by FireEye-Mandiant experts, who, through a blend of interviews and technical tools, assess and compare persisting security and incident-response capabilities, processes, and tools with leading practices. Once the procedure is complete, clients take delivery of a comprehensive report detailing their current state of cyber security readiness with recommendations for improvement.
Another step in the right direction
FireEye stated a tactical alliance with ACE Group, a universal property and casualty insurer. The relationship conveys organized expert technical insight from FireEye to measure an individual organization's threat exposure, with ACE's Loss Mitigation Services package, a multi-tier offering that helps organizations fully comprehend and mitigate their cyber security risk. Together, the companies will provide enhanced visibility into the cyber security preparedness of each client, permitting cyber insurance to be personalized specifically for their risk profile.
Today's shifting threat landscape makes it dreadful for even the most security-conscious organization to assure that they will not be the victim of a cyber-attack. Outdated defenses are proving ineffective in contradiction of escalating sophisticated threat actors, making breaches inevitable. The existing state of cyber security needs a dual attention by companies: increase protection to decrease the likelihood of an attack; and protect themselves against the losses in the event that an attack is successful.
The agreement offers a new way for the insurance industry to help cyber policyholders. FireEye will provide its foremost technology, threat intelligence and expertise to help monitor for suspicious action, provide framework for security alerts and respond to any level of breach. It will permit threat intelligent underwriting and claims to deliver risk transfer acceptance and make claim decisions based on the current and available threat Intel -- ultimately resulting in combined operational and financial resilience in case of a security breach.
Conclusion
Given the increasing amount of high-profile data breaches, many companies will be looking at FireEye to supply them with required defense. The company’s valuation has dropped about 10% in the last few weeks due to multiple analyst downgrades. However, I think the company is well positioned to benefit from the booming cybersecurtiy market. Hence, I think investors should add the stock to their portfolios on the drop.
