Mastercard buying global threat intelligence company Recorded Future for $2.65 billion

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Mastercard is buying global threat intelligence company Recorded Future for $2.65 billion to strengthen its cybersecurity services.

The card issuer has been attempting to enhance fraud protections for customers and in May it rolled out a software update that integrated artificial intelligence into its fraud-prediction technology. The company believes it will help it to see patterns in stolen cards faster and allow banks to react more quickly.

Recorded Future and Mastercard already collaborate on an AI-supported service that alerts financial institutions more rapidly and with greater accuracy when a card is compromised. Since its launch earlier this year, the service has doubled the rate in which compromised cards are identified when compared with the year-ago period.

Recorded Future has more than 1,900 clients across 75 countries, including the governments of 45 countries. It had been owned by the venture capital firm Insight Partners.

The deal is expected to close by the first quarter of next year.