FireEye Inc. (FEYE) recently disclosed targeted attack protection for Apple’s (AAPL) iOS devices as well as Mac OS X systems. Shares of FireEye rose 3.5% ($1.01) intra-day following the news on Oct 7, 2014.
Headquartered in Milpitas, CA, FireEye provides a security platform for cyber-attacks to enterprises and governments. The company offers web security, email security, file security and malware analysis. Currently, FireEye has over 2,500 customers across 65 nations worldwide including 150 of the Fortune 500 companies.
FireEye is set to enable analytics with forensic analysis for Apple products by extending network protection services for Mac OS X systems and mobile protection to iOS devices. The company’s Advanced Threat Protection NX and AX with OS X support are available in markets currently. However, the FireEye Mobile Protection App will be available only by the end of 2014.
With the inclusion of Apple, FireEye has emerged as the sole consolidated security platform for the top operating systems including Microsoft’s (MSFT) windows as well as Google’s (GOOGL) Android platforms.
Per Forrester Research, Apple products are supported by almost 50% of enterprises worldwide while they are used by 21% of information workers. Moreover, 41% of the Apple enterprise users comprise of executives and senior level workers.
The increased use of Apple products, in turn, has made them the new targets of attackers with FireEye Labs seeing malware callbacks from Mac increase 90% month over month over a year stretching from Jun 2013 to Jun 2014. Further, earlier in Sep 2014, malwares specially designed to target the Mac OX S systems were detected by FireEye Labs.
We believe this initiative has been taken by FireEye in order to widen its reach, which in turn, will drive top line growth going forward. The company recently introduced its Security-as-a-Service model that provides customers a choice between paying upfront or as a subscription. This feature was launched with an aim to provide greater flexibility to customers, which again may prove to a tailwind for FireEye.
Moreover, the company continuously engages itself in accretive acquisitions including the likes of nPulse in order to bolster growth. Nevertheless, stiff competition from the likes of Fortinet Inc. and Rally Software remains a major headwind in the near term.
Currently, FireEye has a Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold).
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