Cybersecurity Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is a complex, lengthy courtship process that should bring two entities closer together, and cybersecurity has emerged as a core element in the process. For example, consider the regulatory environment around data breaches. With both the delayed reporting and heightened fine structure under FTC or the GDPR, it's very easy to imagine acquiring a company that will trigger a violation post close and thereby damage the reputation or security posture of the acquiring entity, at significant expense.

The currant malware and ransomware epidemics continue to have wide impact, both on under resourced government entities and on large entities with significant cyber capability. Business interruption is the major concern for all companies.

There’s always increasingly complex risk: There’s always digital due diligence

SecOp remains active in the M&A market, acquiring a range of technology service providers, IT consultants, MSPs and cybersecurity companies.

Third party risk management (TPRM) is vital in today's business world. Identifying, managing and mitigating risks to your organisation is crucial for success, growth and resilience.

With recent global crisis and the uncertainties they create, the risks associated with your third parties, especially in your supply chain, are becoming increasingly important and more complex than ever. These can cover meeting regulatory obligations e.g. Know Your Customer (KYC), compliance with your internal risk process and procedures, or better understanding the companies and individuals you may be involved with. Enhancing due diligence is critical to protect your organisation, reputation and brand.

Step one – Identify your risks

Due diligence is an important part of TPRM. Done manually, it is time intensive, inconsistent and messy, especially when it is global. Our artificial intelligence (AI) technology makes it efficient, rigorous, scalable and we can tailor it to your risk requirements. Just some of the features you can expect from our due diligence tool include:

• TPRM - Third Party Risk Management

Step two – Assess the risks

Our expert team, and our leading technology, gives you confidence that you have identified the key risks which may relate to areas such as bribery, PEPs, sanctions, data breaches and information security, and regulatory investigations or fines. We advise you on what impact the risk could have on your organisation, your reputation and your growth plans.

Step three – Manage and mitigate your risks

Once you have identified the risks and performed an assessment of their impact on your business, we are on hand to delve deeper and advise on how you can manage and mitigate those risks, especially those relating to your supply chain. Your compliance process can be designed and implemented to address this and any further due diligence that may then be required.

We believe that a well thought out, practical, robust and efficient TPRM process and procedures will allow you to protect your organisation – your people, your reputation and your future, saving time and resource.