Incident & Breach Response , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development , Security Operations

Scaling Threat Intel, Consulting: Mandiant's Way With Google

Sandra Joyce and Jurgen Kutscher shed light on the evolution of Mandiant under Kevin Mandia since its September 2022 acquisition by Google for $5.4 billion.

See Also: Revealing the Threat Landscape: 2024 Elastic Global Threat Report

Joyce emphasized the threat intelligence capabilities brought by Google's vast data resources and said the search and public cloud giant provided an "almost planetary view" of the threat actor environment. Kutscher said Google's infrastructure gives Mandiant's consulting business global presence and scalability, allowing it to tap additional engineering resources to churn out new technology faster (see: Kevin Mandia Exits Mandiant CEO Role After Google Purchase).

"Google is a phenomenal engineering company," Kutscher said. "When I have engineering needs - which I always do, since I'm a technology-enabled consulting business - they provide me with the resources that have just unbelievable power to churn out new technologies that make my business more scalable. It's also about international expansion given the footprint Google has with this massive client base."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Joyce and Kutscher also discussed:

• What they learned about the importance of integrity and mission focus from outgoing CEO Kevin Mandia;
• The integration of VirusTotal with Mandiant intelligence for enhanced threat visibility;
• Strategies for maintaining Mandiant's mission and independence within Google.

Joyce oversees intelligence collection, research, analysis and support services for Google threat intelligence customers. She has held positions in product management, business development and intelligence research over her more than 23 years in national security and commercial industry. Joyce serves in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and is a faculty member at the National Intelligence University.

Kutcher oversees the delivery of all consulting and managed services for Mandiant. He has more than 18 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry with a range of security consulting services including incident response, proactive and strategic services, and application and network security. Prior to Mandiant, he ran the professional security services threat and vulnerability practice at Verizon Business.