Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies need cybersecurity expertise to proactively detect, disrupt and remediate cyber threats before they become business impacting.
Cyberattackers recognize that portfolio companies are easy targets because they are growth-focused and are often secured with lean, less mature cyber operations. Private equity firms also have detailed disclosure requirements to abide by, making it easy for attackers to find these valuable targets.
Sophisticated attackers perform complex reconnaissance on private equity firms and their portfolio companies in order to obtain stolen/hijacked/poorly secured firm documents and harvest key employee credentials. They understand operational details, the names of key employees, and once they are embedded, they can hijack relationships, intercept emails, and even initiate wire transfers to steal millions of dollars.
Adding to the challenge, CIOs at private equity firms are hampered by a lack of visibility into all their portfolio firms as well as a lack of control. Defensive tools across their portfolio companies are almost always inconsistent.
Breaches can and will impact deal execution, deal value, integration, and put reputations and future deals at risk. In fact, the public nature of private equity work paints a target on both the buyer and seller.
