CrowdStrike and Mandiant to unite in some hacking investigations

Two of the most prominent U.S. cybersecurity companies have struck a deal to work more closely together, extending a trend of cooperation among companies and government agencies battling sophisticated spying operations, ransomware and the potential for disruptive or destructive attacks amid rising global conflict.

Mandiant, which is best known for leading investigations of breaches such as the ransomware attack that shut down Colonial Pipeline last year, will begin deploying protection tools from CrowdStrike as it advises customers on their defenses and responds to incidents, the two chief executives told The Washington Post. The deal is to be announced Thursday.

Both companies are famed for identifying and analyzing the most dangerous hacking groups, especially those connected to government agencies in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, sometimes down to the real names and photos of military officers behind the keyboard.

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But while Mandiant stresses high-end consulting work, especially after it spun off from security software vendor FireEye, CrowdStrike gets more than 90 percent of its revenue from selling tools to detect and respond to incidents, assess vulnerabilities and control access to customer networks.

CrowdStrike has handled investigations into major hacks, such as the Russian breach of the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 election, and is the world’s largest provider of what are known as endpoint detection devices, with a 14 percent share of the market, according to market research firm IDC. Its revenue has grown 75 percent in the past year.

“There could be some overlap, but at the end of the day, we want to have our technology in as many places as possible,” CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz said in an interview ahead of Thursday’s announcement.

“Our consultants are excited about it,” Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia told The Post. “When you’re responding to a breach, you’re like a doctor. You don’t care who else is helping the patient.”

Google agreed last month to buy Mandiant for $5.4 billion, and it was a key early investor in CrowdStrike, but both…

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