Cybersecurity due diligence for mergers and acquisitions.
A target's cyber risk becomes your liability the day the deal closes. SubRosa assesses the security posture, compliance exposure, and breach history of the company you're acquiring, quantifies how it affects valuation, and hands your deal team a clear picture of the risk before you sign, not after.
Pre-acquisition assessment · Risk valuation · Compliance review · Integration
What is cybersecurity due diligence?
Cybersecurity due diligence is the assessment of a target company's security posture, risks, and liabilities during a merger or acquisition. It examines the target's controls, compliance status, and breach history to surface the cyber risks that could affect the deal, from undisclosed incidents and regulatory exposure to the cost of bringing the acquired environment up to standard. Done before you sign, it protects your valuation and your integration; done well, it turns cyber risk from a hidden liability into a negotiated, quantified line item.
From target risk to integration plan.
A complete cyber picture of the company you're acquiring, before and after close.
Pre-acquisition assessment
A comprehensive evaluation of the target's cybersecurity posture, controls, vulnerabilities, and breach history, so there are no surprises after close.
Compliance & liability review
Assessment of the target's regulatory compliance and potential legal exposure, so inherited liabilities are on the table during negotiation.
Risk-based valuation analysis
Analysis of how the target's cyber issues affect deal valuation and post-acquisition remediation cost, quantified for your deal team.
Integration planning
A strategic plan to integrate the acquired environment securely and mitigate risk after the deal closes.
Diligence on a deal timeline.
M&A cyber diligence runs against a clock and with limited access. The work is scoped accordingly.
- 01
Scoping against the deal timeline
We agree what is achievable in the window available. Diligence rarely allows a full assessment, so effort goes where it changes the valuation or the terms rather than being spread evenly.
- 02
External assessment
What is publicly observable about the target: exposed infrastructure, leaked credentials, domain and certificate hygiene, and third-party risk signals. This runs without target cooperation, which matters in the early stages of a deal.
- 03
Documentation and disclosure review
Policies, prior assessments, penetration test reports, certifications and insurance. What is missing is often more informative than what is provided — an organisation with no prior testing has an unknown, not a clean, security posture.
- 04
Breach history and liability
Known incidents, regulatory exposure, and obligations that transfer with the acquisition. An unreported breach or a live regulatory matter is a liability that arrives with the deal.
- 05
Findings priced into the deal
Findings are expressed in terms a deal team can use: what must be fixed before close, what can be priced into the terms, and what becomes an integration cost. A technical severity rating does not help someone negotiating.
- 06
Integration planning
Post-close, the fastest route to an incident is connecting two environments before understanding either. We plan the sequencing so integration does not import the target's problems into your network on day one.
Diligence your deal team can bank on.
Offensive-security depth
The same team that runs penetration tests and red teams assesses the target, so you see the risks an attacker would exploit, not just a checklist.
Valuation-aware
We translate cyber findings into valuation and remediation-cost impact, so your deal team can negotiate with numbers, not vague concerns.
Built for integration
We don't stop at the report, we give you a prioritized plan to integrate the acquired environment securely after the deal closes.
Target findings and risk, deal-ready.
Sable keeps your due diligence findings, risk ratings, and remediation estimates in one workspace, so your deal team, counsel, and integration leads are all working from the same picture of the target's cyber risk.
- Deal riskUnpatched public-facing VPNCritical
- ValuationUndisclosed 2024 breachHigh
- ValuationNo SOC 2 · weak complianceHigh
- IntegrationFlat network, no segmentationMedium
Common questions
- What is cybersecurity due diligence?
- Cybersecurity due diligence is the assessment of a target company's security posture, risks, and liabilities during a merger or acquisition. It examines the target's controls, compliance status, and breach history to surface the cyber risks that could affect the deal, from undisclosed incidents and regulatory exposure to the cost of bringing the acquired environment up to standard. Done before signing, it protects your valuation and your post-acquisition integration.
- Why does cybersecurity matter in M&A due diligence?
- Because a target's cyber risk becomes the acquirer's liability at close. Undisclosed breaches, weak controls, and compliance gaps can reduce a target's valuation, create post-acquisition remediation costs, and expose the buyer to regulatory and legal action. Cybersecurity due diligence quantifies that risk before the deal is signed so it can be negotiated rather than inherited.
- What does a cybersecurity due diligence assessment include?
- It includes a pre-acquisition assessment of the target's security posture, controls, vulnerabilities, and breach history; a review of the target's regulatory compliance and legal exposure; an analysis of how cyber issues affect deal valuation and remediation costs; and a strategic plan for securely integrating the acquired environment after close.
- How quickly can cyber diligence be completed?
- It is scoped to the deal timeline rather than the other way round. External assessment can begin without target cooperation and produce useful signal within days; documentation review and interviews depend on the access the process allows. We concentrate effort where it changes valuation or terms rather than spreading it evenly.
- What if the target will not grant access?
- A great deal is visible from outside: exposed infrastructure, leaked credentials, domain and certificate hygiene, third-party risk signals. It is not a substitute for internal review, but in early stages it is often enough to tell you whether to keep going and what to insist on later.
- What are the most common findings?
- Unreported or under-reported incidents, security debt in systems the target planned to replace and did not, compliance obligations that transfer with the acquisition, and an absence of any prior testing. That last one is the most commonly misread — no prior testing means an unknown posture, not a clean one.
- How are findings presented?
- In terms a deal team can act on: what must be fixed before close, what can be priced into the terms, and what becomes an integration cost. A technical severity rating does not help someone negotiating a purchase agreement.
Know the cyber risk before you sign.
Let's assess your acquisition target's security posture and quantify the risk for your deal team.