Securo-borg FireEye coughs $70m to buy 'flight-recorder-for-networks' tech

Security vendor FireEye has bought network forensics firm nPulse Technologies in a $70m deal.

FireEye is stumping up $60m in cash and $10m in stock to get its hands on nPulse, a privately held startup that boasts it offers the industry's fastest full packet capture and indexing technology.

nPulse’s forensics will be integrated into FireEye's Network Threat Prevention Platform and bundled with recently introduced IPS capabilities to create a more capable threat management platform.

nPulse's technology (which is rated up to 10Gbps full duplex, or fast enough for any high-speed corporate LAN) will make it easier for corporations to detect and respond to security breaches at an earlier stage that might otherwise be the case, thereby reducing the resulting harm.

“The new reality of security is that every organisation has some piece of malicious code within their network,” said David DeWalt, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of FireEye, in a canned statement.

“The more important question is has that code been able to execute any compromising activity that puts the organisation at risk, and if so, what data left the network? With the addition of the nPulse solution, the FireEye platform will have a “flight recorder” for security analytics. By incorporating real-time breach information from the endpoint and the network, we’re building a single platform to provide the most in-depth attack information and the right data to protect and remediate before a compromise turns catastrophic,” added DeWalt.

The nPulse buyout deal will allow FireEye to compete with the likes of HP (ArcSight) and IBM (QRadar) in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) sub-segment of the security business, as well as going head-to-head with startups such as LogLogic.

The tech will be offered alongside services from cyber intelligence outfit Mandiant, which FireEye acquired for $1bn last December.