Art of Mastering the successful Mergers and Acquisitions through Cybersecurity due-diligence

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Presented at Kernelcon 2022 by

Mergers, buy-outs, divestitures: These are just a few of the ways in which companies can transform literally overnight. Today acquisitions are on the rise, as leaders are looking for growth after the pandemic slowdown, and as new business models emerge based on the shift in consumer demands and mindset. This restructuring of organizations while buying or merging with another company can be cost-effective as they can reduce the costs of developing business activities that will complement a company's strengths. It can be a good investment to achieve its strategic long term goals for an organization while increasing the supply-chain pricing power and also eliminating the possible business competitors. While these moves often help a company remain competitive, if it is not done right it can make or break an organization.Weakened cybersecurity hygiene throughout the last year means that these M&A transactions elevate the risk of cybersecurity incidents. M&A can be a breeding battle ground for cyberattacks and data breaches. With the passage of the GDPR and the CCPA, and with more data privacy laws in the works, cybersecurity, and data privacy have become crucial elements of pre-M&A due diligence. Thorough due diligence that includes a focus on cybersecurity will help reduce regrets later in the deal lifecycle. Today's M&A plans need to include cybersecurity at several strategic and tactical points, to address growing scrutiny from regulators and other evolving cybersecurity risks. This track covers lessons from the recent M&A transactions that never got off the ground or whose deal value was severely undermined by data security issues and ways acquiring organizations can avoid these failures by thoroughly analyzing the security flaws of the company to be able to negotiate or walk away from the deal instead of regretting later