The ACCC will not oppose the Google’s proposed acquisition of cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

After consulting with customers and competitors of Google and Mandiant, the ACCC deemed there wasn’t enough crossover in their services to warrant a competition issue.

“Our investigation concluded that Google and Mandiant are not competitors in the supply of cybersecurity products and that this acquisition was not likely to substantially lessen competition,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

Our investigation found that there are a number of alternative suppliers of cybersecurity and cloud platform products.

“We found the acquisition was unlikely to give Google the incentive and ability to foreclose competitors in cloud platform or cybersecurity services due to the existence of alternative suppliers.”

The US Department of Justice had no objections to the acquisition, after ending its antitrust inquiry in mid-July.

Mandiant has been instrumental in uncovering malicious cyber attacks from nation-state sponsored groups based in Russia, China, and Iran.

Kevin Mandia, CEO of Mandiant (pictured above), founded the company in 2004, after leaving the US Air Force. He said he decided to sell to Google due to their vast cloud network and skills in automation.

“I don’t look at this as selling my baby. I look at it as moving the mission forward,” Mandia said.