In an untoward incident, US-based cybersecurity firm FireEye faced a breach into its highly secure servers. Upon its revelation by company officials, FireEye’s stocks dropped sharply by 0.7%, indicating trust issues about FireEye’s ability in cyber protection. FireEye has always been at the beck and call for all governments facing internet security breaches across the globe. Its service records indicate a definitive history of providing reliable and consistent service in the cybersecurity arena.
FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia stated that company resources used for sensitive purposes were stolen from their servers during the hack. The data track reports suggest that the perpetrators tried to acquire data related to specific government-related documents. Mandia has not revealed the details of the documents. However, he mentioned that FireEye and the FBI are looking into the details to understand the scenario.
In Mandia’s words, such an act can possibly be carried out by a government-sponsored entity as the data sought for is government-related. Whether the data compromised the national security of the state is yet to be ascertained. However, Mandia’s blog makes it evidently clear that the task carried out may be a case of cyber espionage. Without naming any nation, he pointed out specific details that have an uncanny resemblance to Russia’s modus operandi. In this case, Russian intelligence agencies may be involved with the hacking unit that breached FireEye servers.
FireEye was set up in 2004 and has been operational in the US since then. Starting with a handful of employees at the firm, Mandia’s initial projects started with an investigation of the US Air Force data attack. In the particular incident, sensitive and secret pieces of information related to the US Military was stolen by foreign intelligence. FireEye has been pivotal in creating safety systems, high-end network firewalls, etc.
However, Mandia’s blog brought an adverse effect on the stock market as FireEye’s stocks dropped the following day sharply. The prices are expected to fall more steeply if the issue is not dealt with sooner. Cybersecurity is a susceptible industry, and little flaws can cost companies a fortune as well as their hard-earned reputation.
Currently, FireEye is facing quite the heat due to this incident. However, in a declaration, they claimed that this was a very sudden, unexpected incident, but they did not have a clue as to how their highly secure systems were penetrated. They believe that this can be the handiwork of a heavily sponsored hacking group aided by governments. According to data security experts, hacking activities of such magnitude is never possible without enormous resources and legal backup from the area of occurrence.
It is yet to be understood if the incident will tarnish FireEye’s reputation in the cybersecurity market. If the perpetrating agency is identified, the organization can still regain some lost ground.
