Mastercard Acquires Cyber Recorded Future Worth IDR 40 Trillion To Strengthen Payment Network Defense

Mastercard acquisition of Cyber Recorded Future (Photo; Doc. Pymnts)

Mastercard, a global payment service provider giant, has just finalized an agreement to acquire cybersecurity firm Recorded Future worth US$2.65 billion (around Rp40 trillion). This step was taken to improve the security of their global payment network amid growing cybercrime threats that are increasingly complex and sophisticated.

This acquisition comes from private equity firm Insight Partners, which previously owned a majority stake in Recorded Future since 2019. Mastercard insists that this acquisition will strengthen its ability to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to protect their systems from cyber threats and fraud.

With more than 1,900 clients in 75 countries, Recorded Future has long been known as a reliable cybersecurity solution provider. Mastercard, in its statement, underlined that global costs due to cybercrime are expected to reach 9.2 trillion US Dollars (around Rp. 141 quadrillion) this year, so the urgency to strengthen digital defense is increasing.

Quoted from Coingape, Craig Vosburg, Mastercard Chief Services Officer, stated that collaboration with Recorded Future will accelerate innovation in the security sector, develop smarter AI models, and proactively deal with cyber threat potential. This transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

In addition to strengthening cybersecurity, Mastercard is also active in developing support for the crypto sector. Recently, the company is working with European crypto payment infrastructure provider Mercuryo to launch a euro-denominated debit card that allows users to spend their cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin in more than 100 million traders across the Mastercard network.

The initiative comes after a crypto debit card trial with MetaMask's digital wallet in August 2024, marking an important step in Mastercard's efforts to be more integrated with the growing digital asset sector.

Collaboration with MetaMask, developed by ConsenSys, also reflects a new trend in the crypto world: the shift towards a non-custodial wallet. This type of wallet gives users full control over their personal keys and digital assets, in contrast to traditional custodial wallets managed by third parties, such as banks or exchanges. While offering more autonomy, the model demands greater responsibility for users to keep their assets safe.