What happened
Shares of FireEye (MNDT), a cybersecurity company, fell during trading this morning after the company revealed Tuesday that some of its security tools were stolen following a recent cyberattack.
The tech stock fell by as much as 12.6% and was down by 11.3% as of 11:15 a.m. EST on Wednesday.
So what
CEO Kevin Mandia said in a statement, "Recently, we were attacked by a highly sophisticated threat actor, one whose discipline, operational security, and techniques lead us to believe it was a state-sponsored attack."
Image source: Getty Images.
Mandia added that the attack "is different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years." The incident resulted in some of the company's Red Team assessment tools being stolen, which are used to test FireEye customers' security.
The company has issued more than 300 countermeasures to help protect its customers, and management said that so far it hasn't seen any evidence that stolen tools have been used.
The company noted that "the attacker primarily sought information related to certain government customers" and that it's working with the FBI to investigate the incident.
Now what
With FireEye being a top cybersecurity company, it's not surprising that investors weren't thrilled to see that the company suffered a cyberattack and had some of its tools stolen. With today's share price slide, the stock is down 16.7% year to date.
