FireEye Shares Drop 7% As Company Reports Suffering Foreign Government-Backed Cyberattack

California-headquartered cybersecurity company FireEye Inc FEYE revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that it was a victim of a cyberattack. The attack targeted the company’s “Red Team" assessment tools, used for testing customer security.

What Happened: FireEye believes the attack was sponsored by a foreign government on the basis of it being a “highly sophisticated cyber threat actor.”

After gaining access to certain internal systems, the attackers seemed to focus on collecting unauthorized information about certain government clients. Although some of the defensive tools and software might have been compromised, the company claims that the customer data is still intact, based on a lack of evidence from the primary systems used for data restoration.

FireEye is conducting an in-depth investigation into the attack and working with the FBI along with some of its partners like Microsoft Corporation MSFT, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"The FBI is investigating the incident and preliminary indications show an actor with a high level of sophistication consistent with a nation state," Matt Gorham, assistant director of the FBI cyber division, said in a statement.

The cybersecurity company sought to assure customers, saying that it is equipped with over 300 countermeasures to safeguard its customers. It is still unclear if the attempt was a one-off case or the attacker plans to redeploy these tools or make the information public.

Why Does It Matter: An absence of insights into the attack is raising concerns that the attempt could be repeated with FireEye’s other government clients and national security agencies, WSJ reported.

The Journal noted, citing people familiar with the matter, that early speculations are pointing towards Moscow. The Russian embassy hasn't yet responded to these speculations.

Price Action: FEYE closed 0.71% higher on Tuesday, but the shares fell 7.22% in the after-market session at $14.40.