Facebook is in Retail Therapy, Shopping for Security Firms

Facebook is now paying attention to the wisdom of old adage, “When things get tough, the tough go shopping.” According to The Information, Facebook recently is shopping for a major cybersecurity firm.

After spending tons of days at the hot seat for its failure to protect their users, Facebook is currently now looking to solve its cybersecurity problems by acquiring another cybersecurity company. Several sources have reported that the company is looking for various security firms, none of these are yet publicly named.

“It’s good to see such a huge consumer company looking to make a large move to improve their cybersecurity posture,” said Guy Bejerano, co-founder and CEO, SafeBreach. “However, as we have seen on the enterprise front, improving defenses isn’t about just buying the tools. For Facebook to truly move the security needle, they will also need to ensure that whatever investment they choose is deployed appropriately, configured correctly, and constantly validated to ensure their investment works as expected.”

According to The Information, the company is most likely looking to gain a cybersecurity firm which would offer a software with a feature like analytics or tools which could easily flag the unauthorized access into which Facebook could wrap its own systems.

“Facebook is acknowledging two factor with the public statement about acquiring a cybersecurity firm. First, there is a shortage of cybersecurity talent. Second, the company will start making cybersecurity unique solutions part of their key business value to their customers,” said Joseph Kucic, chief security officer at Cavirin.

“Obviously, Facebook could purchase the products and solutions from vendors, but they want to create greater value that will be a market and product differentiator for them as they move forward with an acquisition.”

Theirs is no word yet on how big this purchase would really be and when might this happen, but one unidentified source which have reportedly suggested that a deal could be happening in the end of this year.