Hannah RobinsonSecuring Your M&A Journey

In today's dynamic business environment, most organisations can only see 60-70% of the devices interacting with their networks and data. During mergers and acquisitions (M&A), this visibility gap becomes even more critical. While organisations focus on financial due diligence and operational synergies, these unknown devices accessing corporate systems represent one of the greatest cybersecurity blind spots.

The Hidden Reality of M&A Cybersecurity

When two organisations merge, they don't just combine their known assets – they combine their unknowns too. Consider this: only 17% of organisations can clearly identify and inventory 95% or more of their assets. During M&A, this challenge intensifies as different security tools, policies, and infrastructure must be unified while maintaining continuous protection against threats that could be lurking in these blind spots.

Beyond Traditional Asset Discovery

Traditional approaches to cyber asset management fall critically short during M&A:

• Incomplete device visibility leaves 30% of assets unknown
• Multiple disconnected tools create conflicting data
• Cloud adoption obscures true asset inventory
• Remote work creates shadow IT

The result? Security gaps that can lead to costly incidents.

Transforming M&A Cyber Asset Discovery

Modern M&A demands a new approach to cyber asset discovery and management. Success requires:

• Complete visibility across both organisations' entire digital ecosystem
• Real-time discovery of previously unknown devices
• Automated validation of security controls across all assets
• Simplified deployment and management

Our proprietary timeline-matching algorithm helps organisations discover an average of 30% more devices accessing their systems than previously known, while validating whether critical endpoint security controls are properly deployed, functioning, and configured across every device – managed or not.

Best Practices for Complete M&A Asset Discovery

Start With Discovery: Uncover all devices interacting with corporate systems before the deal closes

Validate Everything: Ensure security controls are functioning across all discovered assets

Automate Detection: Implement continuous discovery of new and unknown devices

Maintain Visibility: Keep real-time insight into the combined digital ecosystem

Act on Intelligence: Use automated workflows to secure newly discovered assets

Looking Forward

As M&A activity continues to grow, the ability to discover and secure unknown devices becomes increasingly crucial. Organisations that adopt modern cyber asset discovery solutions position themselves for successful, secure integrations that protect value and enable growth.

Ready to uncover the unknown in your M&A journey? Contact us to discover how ThreatAware's innovative approach can transform your visibility and security during M&A.

Source: Gartner’s Cybersecurity Controls Assessment Benchmark 2023