Mastercard buys Recorded Future for $2.65 billion

The financial giant expects the deal to close by the first quarter of 2025.

There are some things money can’t buy; for Mastercard, the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future wasn’t one of those things.

The financial payment behemoth announced Thursday that it reached an agreement to acquire the threat intelligence company for $2.65 billion, representing a major expansion of its cybersecurity services. 

“Recorded Future adds to how we deliver that greater peace of mind before, during and after the payment transaction,” Craig Vosburg, chief services officer at Mastercard, said in the announcement. “Together we will innovate faster, create smarter models and anticipate emerging threats before cyberattacks can take place — in payments and beyond.”

Recorded Future is a well-known intelligence firm that boasts more than 1,900 clients internationally, including 45 governments and over half of Fortune 500 companies, Mastercard noted. The acquisition would boost Mastercard’s current products, which include risk assessments and transaction protections like fraud, according to the press release, which also touted the cyber firm’s use of artificial intelligence.

Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future, said in a statement that “by joining Mastercard, we see an opportunity to help more businesses and governments determine the steps to realize their full potential — and to enable everyone to feel safer in their daily lives.”

Ahlberg said on the X social media platform that the firm “will remain an independent & open intelligence platform, operating as an independent subsidiary.”

The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2025, according to the press release.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure