M&A stands for mergers and acquisitions: the process where companies buy, sell, or combine businesses. In cybersecurity, M&A is important because it shapes who owns security products, who gets access to sensitive data, and how quickly tools, teams, and infrastructure are consolidated after a deal.
Security risk often rises during M&A because two environments must be joined under pressure. Mismatched identity systems, duplicate cloud accounts, exposed APIs, and inconsistent logging can create openings for attackers. Threat actors also watch deals for weakened governance, especially when access reviews, vendor controls, and incident response processes are in transition. Defenders use M&A planning to reduce that risk: they inventory assets, validate security posture, isolate critical systems, and test how data, identities, and monitoring will be merged before integration begins.