FireEye looks to break into UK

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Network security company FireEye has set up a UK office in a bid to expand across Europe, with plans to target large enterprises.

Although the firm established its UK base in January, the FireEye UK hub has now become official and the company has been busy trying to spread the word about what it can offer.

FireEye has worked with US Government bodies and is hoping to do similar work here in the UK.

Given the increased Government backing for cyber crime prevention in the UK, FireEye believes it has timing and product capabilities on its side to exploit opportunities in both the public and private spheres.

“Our primary focus from an outreach perspective is to the large enterprise for a variety of reasons,” Ashar Aziz, FireEye chief executive (CEO), told IT PRO.

“They have sophisticated IT staff, it’s easier to explain the issue to them, they understand it, quite often they have experienced the issue directly and so they are buying solutions in this area.”

Aziz, a former employee of Sun Microsystems, said smaller organisations were not as aware of the threats facing their environments.

FireEye has a strong focus on protecting customers from targeted attacks with its supplementary security products, which include its recently-improved Malware Protection System.

Aziz suggested awareness of the growing prominence of targeted attacks had been a little delayed in Europe.

Over in the US, the Google Aurora attacks had caused organisations to sit up and take notice, but only now are Europeans noticing the trend following compromises at the French Finance Ministry and other public bodies.

Foreign secretary William Hague recently admitted the UK Government had been targeted by hackers using the Zeus Trojan.

“People are aware that there’s large organisations that have been very successfully targeted here as well,” Aziz added.

Paul Davis, director of operations at the new Europe base, said the £650 million commitment from the Government proved it was taking the cyber situation seriously.

“I would welcome a large percentage of that sum spent on us,” Davis quipped.

Asked whether he thought the Government investment was significant, Davis said it didn’t appear to be “a big deal.”

“I’d be intrigued to see where the money is going, whether it’s going into people, whether it’s going into in-house development, or whether it’s going into whatever they’re doing at the moment,” he added.

The Government recently announced £63 million of the £650 million would be going into the hands of the police and their work in finding and arresting cyber criminals.

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