M&A cybersecurity due diligence

M&A Cybersecurity Due Diligence Before You Invest

Identify exploitable cyber risk, incident exposure, compliance gaps, and likely remediation effort before they affect valuation, deal terms, integration, or post-close plans.

Cyber Due Diligence
Buy-side

technical diligence before signing or closing

Sell-side

readiness before buyer diligence begins

2–3 weeks

typical turnaround for focused M&A diligence

Board-ready

reporting for ICs, boards, and deal teams

Cyber due diligence built for deal decisions

Understand the cyber risk in the target company before responsibility transfers, including exploitable weaknesses, incident history, regulatory exposure, third-party dependencies, and likely remediation effort.

Magnifying Glass

Buy-side technical diligence

Validate external exposure, applications, cloud, identity, architecture, and security controls before signing or closing.

Warning

Risk & remediation sizing

Prioritize material findings by exploitability, business impact, urgency, and likely remediation effort so deal teams can factor them into transaction decisions.

Chart Scatter

Investment committee reporting

Give ICs, boards, legal teams, and operating partners a concise view of material cyber risks, evidence, and recommended next actions.

Stack

Post-close remediation plan

Turn diligence findings into a prioritized Day 1, 30-, 90-, and 180-day roadmap for reducing inherited cyber risk.

Comprehensive assessment coverage

We evaluate the target's cybersecurity posture across the areas that matter most to investors, acquirers, and operators.

Check Circle

Infrastructure Security

Network architecture, cloud configurations, exposed services, endpoint posture, identity infrastructure, remote access, and perimeter controls.

Check Circle

Application Security

Web applications, APIs, mobile apps, SaaS platforms, authentication flows, authorization boundaries, and business-logic risks.

Check Circle

Data Protection

Data classification, encryption, access controls, sensitive-data exposure, backup posture, retention, and privacy-related risk.

Check Circle

Incident History

Known breaches, security incidents, forensic history, unresolved compromise indicators, and incident-response maturity.

Check Circle

Compliance Posture

SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GLBA, GDPR, DORA, TISAX, and other obligations that could create customer, regulatory, or contractual risk.

Check Circle

Third-Party & Identity Risk

Vendor dependencies, critical SaaS providers, supply-chain exposure, plus SSO, MFA, privileged access, and excessive-access risk.

How it works

A structured cyber due diligence process designed to fit within investment timelines.

01
2–3 days

1. Scoping & planning

Define scope, gather documentation, align on timeline, confirm the access model, and identify priority systems, risks, and stakeholders.

02
1–2 weeks

2. Technical assessment

External attack-surface review, vulnerability assessment, configuration and architecture analysis, application security testing, and targeted penetration testing where appropriate.

Remediation Support
03
3–5 days

3. Risk analysis & reporting

Translate technical findings into deal-relevant risk: severity, exploitability, business impact, remediation effort, compliance exposure, and issues the deal team may need to consider.

04
post-investment

4. Value creation roadmap

A prioritized remediation plan and security roadmap covering Day 1 risks, quick wins, control gaps, compliance blockers, and longer-term improvements.

What you get

Clear, investment-ready outputs for deal teams, operating partners, CISOs, CTOs, legal counsel, and boards.

File Text

Executive risk summary

A concise view of the company's cybersecurity posture, material risks, key weaknesses, and recommended investment considerations.

Bug

Technical findings report

Detailed evidence for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, access-control gaps, exposed systems, and exploitable attack paths.

Coins

Remediation effort & budget inputs

A practical view of priority, urgency, dependencies, and likely effort to address material findings after close.

Trend Up

Deal-impact analysis

Show which cyber findings may warrant discussion around valuation, deal terms, closing conditions, integration, or post-close planning. Final legal and financial decisions stay with the appropriate advisers.

Target

Security roadmap

A prioritized 30-, 90-, and 180-day plan for reducing inherited or underwritten cyber risk.

Presentation Chart

Board & IC-ready materials

Summaries and dashboards designed for investment committees, boards, operating partners, and non-technical executives.

Bug

Data-room evidence pack

A structured set of key security evidence, scope notes, findings, and remediation status to support buyer, seller, legal, and management follow-up during diligence.

Presentation Chart

Management readout & Q&A

A findings walkthrough for deal teams and target management, clarifying material risks, assumptions, limitations, and the actions that matter before or after close.

Use cases

Cyber due diligence adapted to the investment context.

Handshake

M&A and corporate development

Assess acquisition targets before signing or closing. Identify inherited cyber risk, integration exposure, regulatory issues, and post-close security investment needed.

Buildings

Private equity

Evaluate platform acquisitions, add-ons, and portfolio companies. Benchmark maturity, quantify remediation cost, and support value-creation plans.

Rocket Launch

Venture capital and growth equity

Assess product security, cloud exposure, compliance readiness, and enterprise-sales blockers before investing in high-growth companies.

Shield Check

Sell-side readiness

Identify and remediate issues before buyer diligence begins, organize evidence, and reduce avoidable surprises in the data room.

M&A cyber due diligence questions

Yes, when the target authorizes it and scope and access allow. Targeted penetration testing validates whether weaknesses are exploitable and complements attack-surface mapping, configuration review, cloud and identity assessment, and source-code review where relevant. The goal is technical evidence, not a questionnaire-only view.
It is the assessment of a target company's security risk before an acquisition or investment. Cybersecurity due diligence examines exploitable vulnerabilities, data exposure, incident history, regulatory and compliance gaps, identity and third-party risk, and the remediation work that could transfer to the buyer.
A Blaze assessment can cover external attack surface, infrastructure, applications, APIs, cloud, source code, data protection, incident history, identity and privileged access, compliance posture, security policies, critical vendors, and third-party risk. The exact scope depends on the target company, deal stage, access available, and material risks.
Buy-side diligence helps the acquirer or investor understand inherited cyber risk before close. Sell-side diligence helps a company identify and remediate issues before buyer diligence begins, organize evidence, and reduce avoidable surprises during the transaction.
A focused assessment typically takes about two to three weeks once scope, documentation, and access are available. Larger or more complex targets may take longer. When the deal timeline is tight, Blaze can start with an outside-in review and expand the assessment when more access becomes available.
IT due diligence focuses on systems, architecture, scalability, licensing, operating cost, and integration. Cyber due diligence focuses on cybersecurity risks, exploitability, sensitive-data exposure, security incidents, regulatory risk, third-party exposure, and the target's ability to manage information security as it scales.
Yes. Findings can be converted into post-close remediation, penetration testing, product security work, compliance preparation, and vCISO support for an acquired company or portfolio.
Other services

Recommended services

Cybersecurity services that matter most to investors, acquirers, and portfolio companies.

Core

Penetration Testing

Manual testing of applications, APIs, cloud, infrastructure, and networks to validate exploitable risk before or after investment.

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Advanced

Adversary Simulation

Red team and purple team exercises that test how an organization detects, responds to, and contains realistic attack scenarios.

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Strategic

vCISO & Advisory

Security leadership to support post-investment remediation, portfolio-company maturity, compliance readiness, and long-term roadmap planning.

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Need cyber diligence before the deal closes?

Share the target profile, deal stage, timeline, and access available. We’ll shape a focused technical diligence scope around the decisions your team needs to make.