Mastercard to Acquire Threat Intelligence Firm Recorded Future for $2.6 Billion

Mastercard to Acquire Threat Intelligence Firm Recorded Future for $2.6 Billion

September 12, 2024 at 09:36AM

Financial services giant Mastercard has announced a $2.6 billion acquisition of Recorded Future, a Massachusetts-based threat intelligence company. This move aims to enhance Mastercard’s cybersecurity services and expand its use of AI to combat fraud. The acquisition is set to close in the first quarter of 2025, reinforcing Mastercard’s commitment to cybersecurity.

It seems that Mastercard is planning to acquire Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, for $2.6 billion. This acquisition will add threat intelligence and cybersecurity technologies to Mastercard’s corporate portfolio, enhancing its cybersecurity services and strengthening its financial services ecosystem. Recorded Future will operate as a separate subsidiary of Mastercard, and both companies are expected to double down on the use of artificial intelligence to identify and prevent fraud. This is in line with Mastercard’s previous cybersecurity-focused acquisitions, such as CipherTrace and Ekata. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.

Additionally, Recorded Future has already collaborated with Mastercard on an AI-supported service that alerts financial institutions about compromised cards, doubling the rate at which compromised cards are identified. Furthermore, this acquisition will enable the development of even more robust practices and drive greater synergies in cybersecurity and intelligence, solidifying Mastercard’s brand as a trust mark.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Recorded Future was previously acquired by Insight Partners for $780 million in 2019 and is considered the world’s largest threat intelligence company, with customers in 75 countries, including the governments of 45 nations.

The analysis conducted by SecurityWeek shows that of the 240 M&A deals announced to date this year, nine involved threat intelligence companies, and only six other cybersecurity M&A deals announced in 2024 have been valued at over $1 billion.

Related articles and news around the topic include Recorded Future’s previous acquisition of SecurityTrails in a $65M deal, Mastercard’s acquisition of cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics company CipherTrace, and its push for continuous security.

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