No one likes post-merger surprises! Especially if it involves costly remediations due to poor cyber hygiene of the recently acquired business (and the threat of losses). Understanding and addressing potential cyber security risks at every investment stage gives all involved the best opportunity to maximise their return – on either the purchase or divestment.

Cyber security due diligence assessment

A crucial aspect of cyber security in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is conducting a thorough cyber security due diligence assessment. This evaluation helps identify security risks or liabilities associated with the target company and highlights the remediation cost. Having this information upfront allows businesses to confidently negotiate and determine whether the acquisition aligns with their overall strategy.

Globally, many deals now include cyber security due diligence as standard. Previously, many mistakenly believed that IT due diligence covered all aspects of cyber risk evaluation. However, these days, more and more people understand that cyber due diligence provides a much more comprehensive view of potential cyber risks than an IT-only evaluation.

Early in the acquisition process, it is easy to externally appraise a company using an External Attack Surface Monitoring (EASM) scanning tool (like Glasstrail). These tools tend not to be intrusive and, therefore, don’t require permission from the target to run. An external scan can throw up red flags and reveal the key aspects and scale of the internet assets of the target. These facts can be used in discussions as the deal progresses. They are areas to test and probe with more detailed due diligence assessments. Once you are further into the process, asking for evidence of penetration tests, general security tooling, as well as policies and procedures (or if possible evidence of compliance to a recognised standard like ISO27001) should form part of the due diligence.

To help navigate the complexities of cyber security in M&A activities, companies often engage dedicated cyber teams that can offer a third-party perspective – or use their own team combined with software tools that perform the assessment in a semi-automated way.

Key takeaways

Cyber security plays a significant role in the success of mergers and acquisitions. Addressing cyber security risks and priorities at each stage of the deal process is essential for mitigating potential attacks, controlling security spending, and maximizing returns on investment.

Glasstrail can help both those looking to acquire and those who are planning on selling. It reveals the issues and risks that are obvious to bad actors across a range of open-source intelligence (OSINT) from web, email, and DNS to account credentials and more. Resolving the issues that Glasstrail finds will remove merger red flags while improving your security posture too.

Glasstrail helps both buyers and sellers understand the true nature of the risks in their external attack surfaces. See what it discovers about your domain today – free for 14 days, no credit card needed.

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