Companies are leaving themselves wide open to cyber crime especially after M&A, and if they do not start enabling cyber-security professionals, they will have serious problems
The saga of US telecom company Verizon’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo will be quoted as a case study for years to come.
Business executives and board members will ponder how an internet pioneer such as Yahoo could leave itself open to at least two massive cyber attacks. The merger and acquisition (M&A) world is equally interested by Verizon’s response: plough ahead, but slash the deal price by $350m.
Everything about the story is big and dramatic. But do not be fooled – only the numbers are truly exceptional. Most businesses are leaving themselves wide open to a cataclysmic hack, and most of them do not know it.
How do I know? For 12 years I was a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, New York where I supervised the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
