Mandiant to be acquired by Google for $5.4 billion in cybersecurity deal.

• The publicly traded company, founded in 2004, will be acquired by the search giant for $23 a share.
• If the deal is successful, Mandiant will become part of Google's cloud computing team.

It was announced on Tuesday that the company intends to purchase a cybersecurity firm for approximately $5.4 billion as part of a strategy to enhance the security of its cloud services.

Google announced it will purchase Alphabet for $23 per share, a publicly traded company founded in 2004.

If the deal is approved by regulators, it will be Google's second-largest acquisition ever, following its $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility deal in 2012. Google sold the company to Lenovo for $2.9 billion two years later. Google's third-largest acquisition is smart home product maker Nest, which it bought for $3.2 billion in 2014. Google is a unit of Alphabet.

Mandiant will become part of Google's cloud computing division, which is still smaller than Azure and Web Services.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian stated that companies worldwide are facing unprecedented cybersecurity challenges due to the increasing sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target governments, now being utilized against businesses in all industries.

He stated: "We are excited to welcome Mandiant to Google Cloud to improve our security operations offerings and consulting services, and assist clients in overcoming their top security concerns."

The deal is expected to close later this year.

On Monday, shares of the company closed up 16% after The Information reported that was interested in acquiring the company.

Mandiant, valued at approximately $5.25 billion, was previously part of the FireEye group before that brand was sold. FireEye was recognized for aiding Microsoft in detecting the SolarWinds hack that targeted government systems in 2019 and 2020.

Google is strengthening its cybersecurity presence as cyber attacks rise and cyber warfare intensifies, with Mandiant, and aims to distinguish itself from giants like Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud competition.

Ives stated that his company anticipates the deal will cause a significant wave of influence in the cybersecurity industry.

Amazon and Microsoft, known for their cloud services, will now face pressure to engage in M&A and expand their cloud offerings, according to the statement.

Given their laser focus on protecting next generation cloud workloads from cyber attacks, cyber names such as Varonis, Tenable, CyberArk, Qualys, Rapid7, SailPoint, and Ping stand out as potential M&A candidates in cyber security (among a handful of private players).

Despite the heavy sell-off of most names in the current market, cybersecurity stocks have been resilient during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Sarah Alessandrini.

In 2019 and 2020, the SolarWinds hack targeted government systems.