Cyber security due diligence for an MSP sale
Of all nine due diligence areas, this is the one worth flagging hardest, because it's the one sellers, and their advisers, are typically least prepared for. Cyber and security due diligence is especially critical for an MSP, since security is also what you sell for a living, which makes the gap harder to explain away.
What a buyer's cyber and security due diligence covers
- Data protection compliance
- Written security policy
- Incident history, including anything unresolved
- Access controls
- Backup and disaster recovery arrangements
- Cyber insurance
Where this catches sellers out
None of this is exotic, but it is specialist enough that most accountants and solicitors simply aren't equipped to guide a business through it. Most MSPs have never formally tested an incident response plan, documented their own access controls, or produced anything resembling a coherent internal security policy, not through negligence, simply because nobody has ever asked them to until a buyer does. It's a gap that exists industry wide, including among MSPs themselves.
How MSP Sale Readiness helps
Direction here comes from someone who has run an MSP and knows exactly what a buyer will ask, not from a generic checklist. We check what's in place against that list, flag what's missing, written policies, tidy access controls, a basic incident response plan, and make sure it's sorted well before anyone asks for it. It's specialist work, but it's a finite, knowable list, not an open ended one.
Ready to get your cyber security due diligence in shape?
Want a quick sense of where you stand on cyber security? The free readiness assessment covers cyber security alongside the other eight areas in about three minutes.