FireEye CEO: Other Platforms Are Only Providing The 'Veneer' Of Security

Kevin Mandia says FireEye's Helix security platform will be the first to move beyond prevention and detection and help promptly investigate potential security incidents.

FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said the cybersecurity industry's excessively narrow focus on prevention and detection is leaving customer needs around investigation and remediation largely unaddressed.

The Milpitas, Calif.-based platform security vendor has never seen this level of client interest in its services focused on figuring out what happened during a security breach and what to do about it, according to Mandia.

"You have all of these platforms being built out there that are nothing but the veneer, the first inning of security – preventing the breach – and maybe a little bit of the second inning," Mandia said Tuesday during the company's earnings call. "But there's nobody there for the rid, fourth and fifth inning of the breach across the kill chain."

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Mandia said FireEye's Helix security platform will be the first to move beyond prevention and detection and help promptly investigate potential security incidents. Specifically, Mandia said the data capabilities from FireEye's January 2018 acquisition of X15 Software will help facilitate more automation within Helix's adjudication process.

Streamlining the investigation process within Helix will require the collection of data from a multitude of firewall, anti-virus and endpoint products, Mandia told CRN in a separate interview. Being able to integrate and connect all of the relevant data in a single place will eventually make it possible to go from alert to fix in an automated fashion in just nanoseconds, Mandia said.

"The investigate phase to me is largely unaddressed," Mandia said. "I think that's going to be wholly unique to us."

FireEye sales for the quarter ended March 31 climbed to $210.5 million, up 5.8 percent from $199.1 million the year prior. That edged out Seeking Alpha's projection of $210.2 million.

The company recorded a net loss of $75.4 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, some 4.9 percent worse than a loss of $71.8 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, reported last year. On a non-GAAP basis, the company recorded a net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, 16.2 percent better than a loss of $7.1 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, the year prior. That was in line with Seeking Alpha's estimate.

FireEye's stock jumped $0.24 (1.5 percent) to $16.26 in after-hours trading. Earnings were released after the market closed Tuesday.

Product, subscription and support revenue for the quarter jumped to $169.9 million, up 2.7 percent from $165.5 million last year. And professional services revenue climbed to $40.6 million, up 21 percent from $33.6 million the year before.

For the coming quarter, FireEye expects to record a non-GAAP diluted net income of $0.01 to $0.03 per share on sales of between $212 million and $216 million. Seeking Alpha had been projecting had been projecting non-GAAP net income of $0.04 per share on revenue of $216.1 million.