ALPHABET's Google yesterday snapped up cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4bn (£4.1bn) in cash as the company expands its thriving cloud business.

The tech giant's offer of $23 per share is at a premium of near 53 per cent to Mandiant's stock price before reports saying Google's rival Microsoft was looking to nab the company for itself were made.

Mandiant is a publicly traded US firm, which focuses on cyber-incident response and cybersecurity testing. It made headlines in 2013 when it released a report implicating China in cyber espionage.

The deal comes at time where the cybersecurity threats across the world are particularly prominent, and the move will allow Google to build a competitive edge against competitors.

However, Forrester analyst Jeff Pollard said Google was "playing catchup to Microsoft in cybersecurity", with a long way to go.

Meanwhile, Mandiant had "found a matchup with deep pockets," he said.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper