FireEye opens mathematical R&D Center in Dresden, Germany to bolster cyber-defenses

FireEye, Inc., a company dedicated to stopping today’s advanced cyber attacks, announced on March 4 the opening of a research and development (R&D) center in Dresden, Germany.

The FireEye European R&D team will work closely with local universities to empirically test FireEye endpoint threat defense technology and research threat intelligence in tandem with existing FireEye R&D centers in Singapore and Bangalore. The new R&D center officially opened on March 4, 2014.

Based in the town of Dresden, the FireEye European R&D team will conduct advanced mathematical research through techniques known as “formal methods” to validate the security of the FireEye endpoint technology. Goals of the center’s research include providing statistical evidence that establish standards for threat detection efficacy for FireEye products, while continuing to advance security measures for future products.

The center will initially host 15 researchers on the formal methods team and has partnered with Technische Universität Dresden (Technical University of Dresden) as well as other top European universities to inspire, recruit and produce the best expertise and knowledge in the security industry.

Led by Dr. rer. Nat Hendrik Tews, a software development engineer at FireEye, the team will provide statistical insights into product and research validity as a means to inform both customers and product engineers.

“We’re taking the mathematical techniques used to prove airplane worthiness and applying them to FireEye technology,” said Tews. “We aim to not only help to nourish European cyber security talent, but to produce the right expertise to help keep one step ahead of the cyber criminals, and, ultimately, keep our customers as safe and secure as possible.”

The research and development center is the company’s third such facility. The European research team will join FireEye research teams based in Singapore and Bangalore. With the new R&D center, FireEye now has access to round-the-clock threat and product intelligence from teams based across the globe.

“We’re committed to providing our customers with the best security solutions to combat modern threats and our new European research center is a core part of delivering on that promise,” said David DeWalt, FireEye’s chairman and CEO. “We’re happy to invest in such a unique and inspiring region where we can develop the next generation of security talent.”

FireEye has invented a purpose-built, virtual machine-based security platform that provides real-time threat protection to enterprises and governments worldwide against the next generation of cyber attacks. These highly sophisticated cyber attacks easily circumvent traditional signature-based defenses, such as next-generation firewalls, IPS, anti-virus, and gateways.