FireEye

FireEye was a major developer of a family of hardware and software systems and services to combat modern Internet threats, malicious ON on file shares and in mobile applications.

Business in Russia

FireEye became an important stage in the development of its business in 2013, when, having made a number of acquisitions in the market, it decided to intensify its activities in Europe, including by expanding its presence in the eastern part of the Old World. It was then that she entered the Russian market, concluding the first business contracts in 2014.

By 2017, the company in Russia had several clients, mainly in the financial sector and telecom, the company intended to focus on expanding the partner network and the range of vertical customer segments. At this time, FireEye had several partners in Russia. Among them: Softline, Technoserv, Netwell and Axoft.

History

2022: Build Trellix with McAfee Enterprise and FireEye assets and technologies

The investment firm Symphony Technology Group on January 19, 2022 announced the creation of Trellix, which will combine the assets and technologies of information security firms McAfee Enterprise and FireEye, bought out by STG last year. Read more here.

2021

Completion of the acquisition by STG

On October 12, 2021, McAfee Enterprise and FireEye announced that Symphony Technology Group ("STG") had completed the acquisition of FireEye for a total of $1.2 billion. With the completion of this transaction, McAfee Enterprise and FireEye merge into one company.

The combined company has more than 5,000 employees, and the customer base is more than 40 thousand customers around the world, with annual revenue of almost $2 billion.

Brian Palma has been appointed CEO of this combined business.

The highly skilled teams of McAfee Enterprise and FireEye are joining forces to help our customers combat intruders while developing an integrated security platform based on artificial intelligence and automation. We plan to become industry leaders, bringing innovation and expertise to shape the future of cybersecurity, "Brian Palma said.

Integration McAfee Enterprise Device-to-Device solutions cyber security with to cloud FireEye's extensive portfolio of products open the door to customer security worldwide. The consolidated business portfolio will protect endpoints, infrastructure, applications, and the cloud. The company will build on a strong relationship with McAfee Enterprise and FireEye customers.

We are very pleased that we have completed the legal process of merging the two leading companies in the field of information security. Thus, we can focus our efforts on merging the two portfolios and provide solutions that meet the needs of tomorrow, "said Evgeny Garbul, Regional Director of McAfee Enterprise in Russia and Central Asia.

Sale of information security solutions business for $1.2 billion

In early June 2021, FireEye announced the sale of its information security solutions business to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) for $1.2 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.

The deal, which the buyer will pay in cash (without raising shares), will separate FireEye, a maker of network infrastructure and cybersecurity products, from Mandiant's digital forensics and incident response division.

FireEye sold most assets and brand for $1.2 billion

The decision to split the two companies came nearly a decade after FireEye acquired Mandiant and appointed Kevin Mandia as the company's chief executive officer.

Mandia noted:

STG's focus on supporting innovative software and cybersecurity market leaders makes the company an ideal partner for FireEye product development. We look forward to our cooperation in threat analysis and expertise.

STG managing partner William Chisholm said the company has "huge untapped business opportunities that it will be pleased to deliver to Mandiant, leveraging significant security software expertise and market leadership.

With division, we get simplicity, we get focus. Together we will be able to cover several markets. In many ways, this was a limitation of resources. FireEye can't do everything, "he added.

FireEye has become one of the best-known cybersecurity companies, known for its research on attacks by various hacker groups, some of which have ties to governments. For example, Mandiant was brought in to investigate a ransomware virus attack on the American pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline.^[1]

2020

Revenue growth by 6%, to $941 million, losses - $207.3 million

FireEye ended 2020 with revenue, which reached $941 million at the end of this period, an increase of 6% compared to 2019. The growth in sales of the company's products was partly facilitated by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, due to which the business actively switched to telecommuting and, in this regard, spent money on tools and services to ensure the safety of remote workplaces.

The main earnings of FireEye at the end of 2020 came from the sale of products, as well as subscriptions to their software and support services. The corresponding revenue was equal to $724.9 million against $708.8 million a year earlier. Professional services brought the company $215.6 million, which also exceeds the figure of one year ago ($180.3 million).

In the structure of annual revenue, products, as well as related subscriptions and support services, accounted for 45%. In second place are platforms, cloud solutions and management services (32%), in third place are professional services (23%).

FireEye's 2020 revenue up 6% thanks to subscriptions

As FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia noted, in 2020, professional services, as well as platforms, cloud subscriptions and management services, took more than half (55%) of revenue, which is significantly more than the result in 2019 (23%).

As for the regions, the United States still generates the lion's share of revenues. In 2020, it was about an indicator of 62%. EMEA accounted for 17% of turnover, Asia-Pacific - 15%.

Due to the pandemic, FireEye was forced to cut capital expenditures by about $20 million - to $26 million in 2020 from $46 million in 2019.

It also follows from the company's reporting that in 2020 it entered into 171 contracts ranging from $1 million, while a year earlier there were 160 such transactions. In 2020, FireEye added 1,080 customers, which is less than a year earlier (1,122).^[2]

Hacker attack, theft of information security tools

In December 2020, FireEye reported cyber attacks on the company. The maker of cybersecurity solutions believes government-sponsored hackers are behind the attack. FireEye has a lot of government contracts related to ensuring the national security of the United States and allied countries, Reuters notes.

FireEye reported the hack in documents sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's blog says that a very complex attack was carried out using previously unknown methods, as a result of which the "tools of the red team" [experts who simulate attacks to test the company's cyber defense or the skills of the main staff of specialists - approx. TAdviser] were stolen.

Hackers hacked FireEye and stole information security tools from the company

We were recently attacked by a very sophisticated attacker, a discipline whose operational security measures and technique convinced us that this attack was sponsored by the state, FireEye said, adding that the attackers have "high-end offensive capabilities" and differ from the authors of tens of thousands of cyberattacks that FireEye revealed earlier.

FireEye investigates the circumstances of the cyber attack in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation () FBI and. USA Microsoft The FBI and Microsoft, the report said, agree with FireEye's preliminary findings. Assistant Director of FBI Cyber ​ ​ Department Matt Gorham also expressed confidence that the attackers on FireEye were highly qualified, "corresponding to the state level."

The information security company took more than 300 countermeasures in the interests of its customers after the attack. At the time of the breach claim, FireEye found no confirmation that the stolen tools had been used anywhere. The company believes that hackers were interested in information related to certain state customers. ^[3]

Acquisition of Respond Software

FireEye on November 19, 2020 announced the completion of the acquisition of the firm Response Software and at the same time - to attract an investment of $400 million from the investment corporations Blackstone and ClearSky. The acquisition of Response cost FireEye $186 million. Read more here.

2019

Revenue growth of 7% to $889.2 million; losses - $257.4 million

In 2019, FireEye raised $889.2 million, up 7% from a year earlier, and surpasses the company's own forecast. The volume of orders from the manufacturer of information security solutions increased by 8%, amounting to $926.1 million, but not reaching its own expectations.

FireEye's revenues from sales of products, subscriptions and services for 2019 reached $708.8 million against $687.4 million recorded a year earlier. It is this business that investors are closely watching, since in theory it allows you to increase repetitive income and profit margins. FireEye is actively developing a subscription model for product distribution instead of, as before, selling information security equipment.

In 2019, FireEye combined its verification, threat analysis, Mandiant Solutions-branded managed protection solutions to shift the company's service business to a "security as a service" model that is more customer-friendly. This should help transfer the connection between FireEye services and subscription offers, according to the company.

FireEye financials

The provision of various kinds of professional services in 2019 brought the company $180.3 million, which exceeds the income of a year ago, equal to $143.6 million.

About 53% of FireEye's turnover in 2019 was occupied by sales of products, as well as related subscriptions and support services. The share of sales of platforms and cloud services amounted to 27%, the share of professional services from the subsidiary Mandiant - 20%.

The largest market for FireEye remains the United States - there in 2019 the company received 62% of total revenue. In EMEA countries, the vendor gained 18%, in the Asia-Pacific region - 15%, in the rest of the countries combined - 5%.

FireEye's net losses in 2019 increased to $257.4 million from $243.1 million in 2018. The reason for the increase in cash losses in the company was associated with increased costs, including sales organization, marketing, research and development.^[4]

Purchase of Verodin Critical Business Security Software Developer for $250M

On May 28, 2019, FireEye announced the acquisition of Verodin, a software developer to control the protection of critical business systems, for $250 million. Read more here.

2018: Revenue growth 7% to $831 million; losses - $243.1 million

In 2018, FireEye sales reached $831 million, an increase of 7% compared to 2017, and were at the upper end of the company's forecast range of $827-831 million. The volume of orders, which is an indicator of future revenues, jumped 12% to $856 million.

On the sale of products, as well as related subscriptions and support services, FireEye earned $499 million in 2018 against $479.5 million in 2017. Sales of cloud subscriptions and management services jumped from $166.4 million to $188.4 million. Annual revenue in the field of professional services increased from $133.7 million to $143.6 million.

FireEye financials

Most of FireEye's products and services are still sold in the U.S. There, the company's revenue at the end of 2018 amounted to $523.2 million, which is slightly more than a year ago ($521.2 million).

The vendor's revenues in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) rose from $116.2 million to $135.7 million, and in the Asia-Pacific region - from $105.2 million to $122.5 million.

In 2018, FireEye entered into 169 contracts worth from $1 million, while a year earlier there were 151. In 2018, the company had 1,100 more customers, and in 2017 the number of new customers amounted to 990 companies.

The report also said FireEye's average contract length related to its use of subscriptions and support services had risen to 25.7 months by the end of 2018. A year ago, the figure was 25 months.

In 2018, FireEye launched a new pricing model for subscriptions to its products in the areas of network, email and endpoint security. Almost all new customers attracted by partners are using the new model, Frank Verdecanna, CFO and chief accountant of FireEye, told CRN.

FireEye still runs profit-free. In 2018, the company's net losses were measured at $243.1 million against cash losses of $285.2 million a year earlier.^[5]

2017

Among the key competitive advantages of FireEye in 2017:

• the ability to analyze all suspicious user web traffic and transmitted files in context;
• use of a self-developed hardware hypervisor protected from detection;
• supports dynamic analysis on multiple desktop operating systems with multiple versions of application software locally on a device (Multi-Version).

The manufacturer's flagship solutions are FireEye Network Security (FireEye NX), FireEye Endpoint Security (FireEye  HX) and FireEye Email Security (FireEye EX ). FireEye NX  is a threat protection system that detects    and eliminates the sources of complex, targeted and other attacks in Internet traffic. The FireEye HX solution allows you to identify and neutralize known and unknown threats at end stations, as well as understand their nature and goals. FireEye EX strives to protect email from complex attacks, uses signless technology to analyze all email attachments.

2016

Losses of $480 million

In early February 2017, FireEye presented financial results. The revenue of the manufacturer of information security solutions decreased for the first time since the company went public.

In 2016, FireEye received a net loss of $480.1 million against $539.2 million in cash losses a year earlier. Sales during this time rose to $714.1 million from $623 million. At the same time, in October-December, revenue decreased, and this decline in quarterly terms turned out to be the first since 2013, when the company made an IPO.

Revenue Breakdown in 2016 FireEye Revenue

FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said that one of the reasons for the decline in revenue was the lack of enough sales specialists in key positions in Europe and other divisions. By the beginning of 2017, the shortage of personnel was eliminated.

In 2016, sales of product subscriptions brought FireEye about 45% of revenue. Sales of the products themselves provided 21% of income, the share of professional services and support services amounted to 17% each.

Most of FireEye's turnover is generated by the United States - 69% in 2016. EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) generated 14% of revenues, Asia-Pacific - 13%.

In 2016, the volume of FireEye orders, which determines future revenues, amounted to $819.5 million, an increase of 3% compared to 2015. In January-March 2017, the company expects orders at the level of $130-150 million, which is less than the average forecast of analysts ($186.3 million) who took part in a survey by research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Along with the publication of the financial results, FireEye announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Mike Berry and Executive Chairman David DeWalt, who headed the company until June 2016.

On the day FireEye announced performance and the resignation of top executives, the company's shares fell nearly 20% in value. In 2016, quotations decreased by 23%.^[6]

Kevin Mandia - new CEO

In early May 2016, Kevin Mandia was appointed to the post of FireEye CEO. After this message, the company's shares collapsed.

Kevin Mandia will officially become CEO of FireEye on June 15, 2016, replacing David DeWalt, who has led the company since November 2012.

Positioning Products as Universal Defenses

For 2016, FireEye solutions are positioned as "next-generation, versatile threat defenses" designed to dynamically detect and block real-time cyber attacks.

Cyber ​ ​ attacks are multi-stage and, as a rule, pass unnoticed by many firewalls, antivirus software and IPS systems. They are aimed at stealing data, embedding in local directories, scanning components of the enterprise's IT infrastructure, or covert work until attackers attack the network. FireEye hardware and software complexes examine data received via the Internet and e-mail, files on disk arrays, identify threats of fraud, phishing attacks through mobile applications and attempts to penetrate local infrastructure. Simultaneously with blocking the ability to manage malicious files by attackers and quarantine objects, workstations and servers to which the attack was directed are determined.

The company's developments integrate with many classes of traditional defenses, ensuring a timely response to all modern Internet threats and preventing possible consequences. The family of hardware and software systems is represented by several systems:

• Web Malware Protection System is responsible for security when browsing websites and clicking on URL links contained in e-mail messages;
• Email Malware Protection System provides protection against targeted phishing, bypassing anti-spam filters and technologies based on the reputation of the sender of the email;
• File Malware Protection System is designed to detect and destroy malware on file resources that has gone unnoticed by traditional antivirus programs;
• Malware Analysis System is designed for in-depth expert launch and analysis of cyber threats through the use of customizable test environments;
• Central Management System is a system for real-time local exchange of threat data and enterprise software installation management;
• Dynamic Threat Intelligence is a cloud-based solution for dynamic threat analysis, consolidation of information from all FireEye devices, and global communication to reduce the risk of today's attacks.

In addition, to conduct dynamic threat analysis, FireEye has developed Multi-Vector Virtual Execution (MVX) technology, which, functioning as a separate firmware complex, allows you to identify suspicious objects in incoming network traffic (containing Internet links, email attachments, executable code files, etc.) and check them for security in special isolated virtual machines. To execute suspicious programs, a special FireEye Hardened Hypervisor is used, which prevents the analyzed program from knowing that it is running on a virtual machine. If malicious features are detected, such objects are blocked. In addition, FireEye solutions analyze outgoing traffic to identify suspicious objects and then detect infected nodes in the organization's IT infrastructure.

2015:20% loss growth

On February 11, 2016, FireEye released a financial report that reported a more than 20% increase in loss and a forecast of larger cash losses than Wall Street expects. As a result, the company's quotes continued to decline after an already strong decline in 2015.

In 2015, FireEye's net losses amounted to $539.2 million against a $443.8 million loss a year earlier. At the same time, revenue rose by 46% to $623 million. The volume of orders, which is considered a key indicator of the state of FireEye, increased by 35% and reached almost $800 million.

FireEye shares continue to fall in price as losses rise

In 2015, we made tremendous progress in many years of work to create a world-leading platform for managing advanced threats, "says FireEye Chairman and CEO David DeWalt. - In annual terms, we increased orders by 35%, revenue by 46%, added about 1200 new customers and expanded our international presence. We also made strides towards profitability, delivering record annual cash flows from operating activities and improving operating margins.

According to David DeWalt, the entire information security market grew in 2015 due to the "extraordinary costs" of companies for protection against hacker attacks.

Now I see a much more normalized situation with expenses, - said the head of FireEye.

However, the company's forecast for losses in the first quarter of 2016 was higher than the analytical one - 49-53 cents per share against 40 cents expected by market experts, who were interviewed by Thomson Reuters. Against this background, FireEye shares on the day of the financial report (February 11, 2016) fell 3.4% in price. In 2015, the vendor's quotes collapsed by 65%.^[7]

Notes