M&A Cyber Due Diligence
Cyber risk doesn't pause for a transaction.
Undisclosed breaches, inherited compliance liabilities, and deferred security debt close with the deal. We quantify what you are acquiring before you acquire it and build the integration roadmap that protects value after close.
Why Cyber Diligence Is Deal-Critical
Most deal teams find the security problems after close.
Standard financial and legal diligence doesn't surface security debt, active compromises, or privacy liabilities that transfer at close. By the time those problems become visible, they're the acquirer's balance sheet not a negotiating point.
Cyber due diligence findings have commercial value when they're surfaced before close. Material gaps become price adjustments, escrow holdbacks, and seller representations. Findings discovered post-close are simply the acquirer's problem to fund.
Technology-Enabled Acquisitions
Software, SaaS, healthtech, fintech, or data-intensive targets where the technology infrastructure and customer data are core to the investment thesis.
Regulated Industry Targets
Healthcare, defense, financial services, or government contractor targets where compliance liabilities transfer with the entity and can affect the deal structure.
Active Security Incidents
Targets that have disclosed breaches or where initial diligence suggests unreported incidents, active compromises, or ongoing regulatory investigations.
Compressed Deal Timelines
Competitive processes, auction dynamics, or accelerated close timelines that require material findings delivered within weeks not months.
What Makes This Different
Diligence Built for Deal Reality
01
Risk Quantified for the Investment Committee
A technical findings report doesn't move an investment committee. Financial exposure does. We translate every material finding into dollar-denominated risk: remediation cost, regulatory exposure, and integration budget implications designed for the IC memo not the CISO's inbox.
02
Built for Deal Timelines
Standard security assessments run six to ten weeks. Deal timelines don't accommodate that. We deliver material findings within the windows that transactions actually operate in prioritizing the highest-impact risk domains first so intelligence arrives while the deal is still in motion.
03
Pre-Close Findings That Change Deal Terms
Cyber diligence findings surfaced before close become negotiating points: price adjustments, escrow holdbacks, seller representations and warranties, and remediation obligations that transfer contractual risk back to the seller.
Active transaction? The earlier we engage, the more value we can surface.
Reach out now to discuss scope, access requirements, and timeline. Cyber diligence timelines are constrained by deal timelines.
Engagement Deliverables
What the Engagement Delivers
Every M&A cyber diligence engagement delivers findings in the format deal teams and investment committees need not security reports that require translation.
Executive Risk Summary
Board and IC-ready summary of material cybersecurity findings with financial exposure estimates, deal-specific risk scenarios, and recommended deal term implications.
Technical Security Assessment
Detailed findings across cloud configuration, network architecture, identity and access controls, endpoint coverage, and detection capability based on technical access and data room review.
Privacy Compliance Assessment
Multi-jurisdictional privacy compliance evaluation including GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, HIPAA (if applicable), and other relevant regulations with exposure estimates by jurisdiction.
Security Debt Quantification
Category-by-category remediation cost modeling for identified security debt, with prioritization by urgency and integration complexity.
100-Day Post-Close Security Roadmap
Prioritized integration security roadmap covering critical remediation, access harmonization, incident response integration, and compliance alignment for the post-close period.
R&W Insurance Documentation Support
Supporting documentation for representations and warranties insurance underwriting, formatted for delivery to deal counsel and insurance broker.
Ideal For
Who This Engagement Serves.
Private Equity Deal Teams
PE firms evaluating technology-enabled, healthcare, defense, or data-intensive acquisitions where cybersecurity risk is material and the investment committee requires quantified exposure not a technical findings list.
Corporate Development & Strategic Acquirers
Corporate acquirers whose standard M&A diligence process lacks dedicated cybersecurity expertise, particularly where the target's infrastructure or customer data will be integrated into the acquirer's environment.
Portfolio Companies Preparing for Exit
PE-backed companies preparing for sale who need to understand and remediate their security posture before buyer diligence surfaces issues at a stage where findings reduce valuation rather than inform integration planning.
What Happens After You Reach Out
From First Call to IC Briefing
Timelines are deal-driven. A straightforward target with good documentation and cooperative access can move in 4 weeks. A complex target with limited documentation or a compressed deal process may require 6 to 8 weeks for a complete engagement. We scope honestly at the outset so there are no surprises mid-process.
Initial Consultation and Scope Proposal
We talk through the transaction context, deal timeline, target profile, and access availability. For active transactions we turn a scope and fee proposal the same day.
Engagement Setup and Data Room Access
Deal team briefing, NDA execution, and data room access. Initial review of security policies, prior assessments, incident history, compliance certifications, and regulatory correspondence.
Technical Assessment, Target Interviews and Incident Review
Technical environment review, structured interviews with target CISO and CTO, incident history analysis, privacy compliance assessment, and third-party risk exposure review.
Risk Analysis, Financial Modeling and Draft Report
Prioritized risk assessment, security debt quantification, remediation cost modeling, and deal term implications analysis. Draft reviewed with deal team lead before finalization.
Final Deliverables, IC Briefing and Integration Planning
Final report and financial model delivered. IC briefing with deal team and partners. 100-day post-close security roadmap and R&W insurance documentation package.
Why It Matters Who Does This
Most M&A cyber findings
are delivered in the wrong format to the wrong audience.
Deal-ready findings. IC-ready language. Delivered on transaction timelines.
The Problem
Most cybersecurity firms approach M&A due diligence as a compressed version of their standard assessment. The findings are technically accurate and operationally useless, delivered in a format deal teams cannot interpret on a timeline that does not fit the transaction.
How We Work
We built our M&A practice around how deal teams actually operate: under time pressure, using financial and strategic logic. Every finding is translated into deal risk, what it costs to fix, what it costs to ignore, and what it means for valuation and post-close obligations.
The Result
Findings your investment committee can read, your legal team can act on, and your integration team can execute against from day one after close.
Active Transaction?
Let's Talk This Week.
The earlier we engage, the more value we can surface before terms are set. Reach out to discuss scope, access requirements, and timing.