Few cyber business cases ask for more flexibility and adaptability than mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Absorbing a new product, team, or entire company can bring huge implications for cybersecurity. It can involve significant change, which often occurs at a very fast pace with limited resources for true “change management.” From new employee connected devices and data permissions, to new system and technology integrations, M&A requires a dynamic cyber operation to navigate the complexities efficiently with minimal sacrifice on risk exposure and end user experience.

A key challenge for M&A cybersecurity is agility. Between the beginning of an acquisition and the moment of successful integration, the business can be vulnerable. In some cases, bad actors may even target organizations they know are in the midst of an acquisition to exploit cyber vulnerabilities. But organizations often have limited capabilities to handle those new vulnerabilities, and the pressure to move quickly with integration sometimes outweighs cybersecurity priorities.

With a comprehensive and agile suite of cyber capabilities and strategic experience in both IT and change management, the right next-generation managed service provider, also referred to as an "Operate" service provider, can empower enterprises to navigate M&A with both the speed and security they need to thrive. These providers can often stand up policies and protocols that are designed to secure the transition and integration phase much faster and more efficiently than a typical internal cyber and IT team with limited staff and resources. They can rapidly mobilize security operations in the as-is tech environment of an acquisition, establishing business-enabling and threat-mitigating capabilities immediately, while running security operations from Day 1 and executing and running overall tech transformation and integration projects in parallel.

There is a lot of industry commentary on the Internet of Things (IoT)—with more devices than ever connecting to the internet—and its impact on cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

One of the common mistakes that businesses make is treating Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity as an extension of their enterprise IT. The reality is that world-class IoT security often needs its own unique cyber management, monitoring, and safeguards to be effective and retain customer trust. Many companies simply don’t have the teams or technology to handle the nuanced and complex vulnerabilities of IoT cybersecurity, leaving them more exposed to risk than they may realize. They may miss opportunities for early detection and response if their teams and technologies aren’t trained on the specialized telemetry produced by these devices or on threats specific to how these devices are deployed and used. In the event of a breach, are their existing tools and protocols sufficient to resolve the situation?

In IoT cybersecurity, using Operate service providers can help close that resource and skills gap so that enterprises can safely leverage the value of their IoT without taking on additional exposure from ill-fitting cyber standards. Through access to flexible pools of in-demand and hard-to-find cyber resources with deep IoT experience and the latest market-leading technology, Cyber Operate providers can offer the agility needed to stand up, monitor, iterate, run, and optimize IoT and enterprise IT cybersecurity on an ongoing basis.

Many organizations are struggling to keep up with the shifting landscape of cyber regulations and are increasingly relying on third parties to help reduce exposure and risk. Deloitte’s 2022 Global Outsourcing Survey found that 81% of executives turn to third-party vendors to provide, in full or in part, their cybersecurity capabilities. Businesses are often relying on multiple technology and service vendors—creating a complex web of processes and technologies to manage and keep up to date. Many are now looking to a single Operate service provider to help consolidate, orchestrate, and assist in overseeing the ongoing management of their mission-critical cybersecurity operations.

One of Deloitte US’s Cyber Operate service clients is an international bank who originally engaged us to resolve a complex challenge with securing business applications, with both regulatory and cybersecurity implications. As is well known, financial services is one of the most highly regulated industries. These companies also have extremely diverse technology ecosystems—with thousands of applications that often consist of both highly customized code and off-the-shelf enterprise software. Some of these applications may be on-premise and many are likely in the cloud. For this client, a combination of factors made for complex challenges in both compliance and cybersecurity.

Our cybersecurity team assessed the client’s business and compliance challenges with implementing efficient security controls throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC). They then implemented a DevSecOps (Development, Security, and Operations) cybersecurity control factory, leveraging platform and methodology to identify, prioritize, and manage security vulnerabilities within their critical applications at speed and scale— a function Deloitte continues to operate today. Together with the fully-managed Operate solution, the client has achieved a 100% reduction in compliance violations and over 80% reduction in security-related release delays for 3000+ business applications.

As with this example—when operating in a world of ever-changing and increasingly complex regulations—using an Operate service provider can help businesses stay up to date and prioritize growth opportunities in two ways. The first is by staying on top of regulatory changes with both global and local experienced professionals who are specialists in the industry and regions in which businesses operate. Second, is by having operational capabilities built on up-to-date, comprehensive, market-leading technologies that enable organizations to achieve compliance and security outcomes while adaptively evolving with the ever-changing technology landscape.