Network security company FireEye announced this week that they have added the security forensics company nPulse in a $60 million acquisition.  The move is an escalation of enterprise datacenter capabilities for the security giant, and follows the noteworthy $1 Billion acquisition of Mandiant, the security intelligence group that famously disclosed a Chinese state-sponsored military cyber operations unit in mid-2013.  The company will be integrating nPulse’s forensic features and validated alerts into its growing enterprise security platform.

With this lineup, FireEye customers now have the ability to detect and prevent data loss.  FireEye, which used to be known singularly as an exceptional firewall product, has been on a tear acquiring technology to add to its growing platform.  The security business has been in a heated technology race, vying for customers in a move towards holistic security practices through integrated technologies.

FireEye’s nPulse network forensics integration is completely designed for enterprise production scenarios.  nPulse has a reputation as a high-speed, full-packet capture and index forensics solution that happens to be ideal for enterprise security scenarios where real-time capacity is required.

For example, in the event of a breach, detailed attack information is recorded to track the full scope of a breach so security teams can move quickly to execute response and remediation. Security teams can look to saving hours of investigation time and reducing operational expenses.

In the event of breach investigations, organizations have a detailed report of the breach activity, making information and investigation results tasks that that can be done with confidence.  A comprehensive intelligence platform is formed by the FireEye’s threat analytics capabilities, the Enterprise Forensics solution and recently announced Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) capabilities.

In an exclusive statement to SiliconANGLE, FireEye Chief Technology Officer Dave Merkel stated:

“The innovative network forensics technology that nPulse brings to FireEye provides a tremendous opportunity for us to bring much needed visibility to enterprises facing modern day threats. The addition of nPulse, and earlier this year, Mandiant, allows us to continue our mission to be a comprehensive platform to mitigate against the high cost of advanced attacks.”

FireEye growing, evolving

FireEye went public in late 2013, and became an instant hit on Wall Street.  Yet the security company took a bit of a blow this week after first quarter earnings reports knocked its stock price down 22 percent on Tuesday.  FireEye’s CEO David DeWalt defended his company’s performance with reports of solid growth and focus on value:

“One-hundred thirty-two percent growth, record numbers of new customers, expansion around the world is what we were doing. “

The security industry has been stepping up to the challenge brought on by advanced attacks, pivoting on its seemingly unstoppable nature and the tremendous economic impact such attacks introduce.  Traditional signature-based defenses, such as next-generation firewalls, IPS, anti-virus, and gateways have been known to be circumvented by highly sophisticated cyber-attacks.

The shock felt throughout the industry in the wake of high-profile breaches, including the famous Target breach, have put out a call to advance security as soon as possible.  Adding to these challenges, the pressure of an increasingly sparse talent market is making integrated and scalable solutions one of the most desired features in security products today.

With many platforms to master and administer in your average data center, anytime you can integrate security capabilities intelligently, you’re going to have a solid product.  In this announcement from FireEye, we are witnessing one example of an industry-wide evolution in security products from the mentality of scale and speed improvements to more intelligent, analytic and holistic security strategies that are designed to integrate into modern enterprise security operations.

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