Mastercard Finalizes Acquisition of Threat Intelligence Company Recorded Future

Mastercard has finalized its previously announced acquisition of threat intelligence company Recorded Future.

The acquisition will add threat intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, actionable analytics to Mastercard’s cybersecurity capabilities, Mastercard said in a Friday (Dec. 20) press release. It will also provide the company with opportunities to serve different customer sets and enhance the effectiveness of its existing products and services.

“As the world becomes more digitized, there’s an increased focus on securing every interaction and transaction against evolving cyber threats,” Johan Gerber, executive vice president, security solutions at Mastercard, said in the release. “Adding Recorded Future’s AI-driven threat intelligence capabilities to our cybersecurity services, identity solutions and real-time fraud scoring will enable us to better support our customers in these efforts.”

Mastercard announced its $2.65 billion acquisition of Recorded Future in September, saying that it expected the acquisition to become final by the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

The company described Recorded Future as “the world’s largest threat intelligence company” and said it analyzes a “broad set of data sources” to provide visibility into potential threats to help customers take action to prevent risks.

One of the attractions of the acquisition is the insight into consumer behaviors and potential threats that Recorded Future will bring, Gerber told PYMNTS in an interview posted Sept. 13.

“By the time you get to the payment, you’re almost at the last part of that digital interaction you’re having as a consumer,” Gerber said. “So for us to go beyond the payment really means in this specific instance, how do we look broadly across the entire digital interaction rather than specifically the payment. Now, if you think about the services that Mastercard offers today, we often talk about things that we do before the transaction, like account opening, biometrics authentication and so forth.”

Threat intelligence plays a crucial role in preventing, identifying and mitigating attacks, PYMNTS reported in September. By leveraging threat intelligence, businesses and financial institutions can stay ahead of cybercriminals by anticipating their tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).

It represents one of the ways in which the tools and strategies designed to combat cyber risks are evolving along with the threat landscape.

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