- Home
- Blog
The year 2020 has thrown the economy into disarray, resulting in a slew of corporate closures, mergers, and acquisitions. When a firm goes through one of these transformations, it's vital to have a cybersecurity checklist in place to reduce risk and protect data security.
What should be on your to-do list? It is dependent on the organization's type of transition. Compliance, rules, security, and privacy are at the heart of each. Even if a corporation ceases to exist, it leaves behind a large amount of sensitive and/or personal data. In most circumstances, the documents must still be kept by the closed or acquiring business.
The Cybersecurity Checklist for Acquisitions:
If your company is buying another company, there are important steps to take before, during, and after the transaction. This cybersecurity assessment should play a significant part in how you integrate the organisation.
The Cybersecurity Checklist for Consolidation:
Consolidation and downscaling are taking place in the business sector right now for a variety of reasons. Companies changing their work models is one of the most common. Following the need to send employees home to work, businesses are recognising that this model works and can save money. As a result, they must centralise and integrate their cybersecurity operations.
The following are some of the items that should be on your cybersecurity consolidation checklist:
· Determine which assets or locations you may decommission and how to handle them, as well as how to securely migrate data from on-premises servers.
· To ensure that IT teams can manage cybersecurity risk in a distributed architecture, review or create remote work rules.
· Determine how you'll archive applications and data to keep them safe and accessible if needed.
· To make a remote approach more sustainable, evaluate any additional requirements, such as transferring file sharing, platforms, and apps to the cloud if they aren't already. Consider combining options to simplify cybersecurity and save money.
Cybersecurity Checklist for Business Closure:
What happens to all the digital assets when a company dissolves or declares bankruptcy? What you do right now has a lot to do with the type of data you keep. For example, even if a healthcare entity closes, it is still required to keep medical records for a set period, which varies by state but is typically seven to ten years from the date the records were created. Regulatory responsibilities for record-keeping apply to financial institutions that close.
You still have the responsibility to keep those records secure if there are regulatory requirements for record-keeping. For this type of business closure, a cybersecurity checklist might include:
· determining the length of time, you must keep records.
· Identifying an archiving solution that allows you to securely migrate data.
· Ensure that regulatory bodies, as well as patients and customers, can seek documents.
· Decommissioning any software systems containing sensitive data in a secure manner that adheres to cybersecurity best practises
Cybersecurity Requirements for Non-Regulated Business Closure:
If your company isn't regulated, it doesn't mean you should just turn everything off and walk away. Customers' personal or protected information, which could include transaction details, is likely remaining on your servers. If you simply leave such data alone, it will be highly appealing to hackers, perhaps exposing you to legal risk if a breach occurs.
Here are some items to put in your checklist:
· All data-containing systems should be documented.
· Work with the platforms you use to find a secure way to remove or archive data.
· Remove any sensitive data from all physical technological assets, such as laptops and servers.
· Make sure that any internal platform access points are no longer available.
Cybersecurity Awareness Should Always Be Included in Business Transitions:
Any big corporate change, such as acquisitions, consolidations, or closures, should involve a discussion about cybersecurity. Your data assets are just as vital as your physical assets in today's increasingly digital world. Use these guidelines as a guide to ensure that security is constantly top of mind during your transition.
We understand the importance of approaching each work integrally and believe in the power of simple and easy communication.
©2025 - Bourntec Solutions Inc, All Rights Reserved.
