From the course: Managing Your Cybersecurity Program through a Merger or Acquisition

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M&A gone wrong: Case study and learnings

M&A gone wrong: Case study and learnings

From the course: Managing Your Cybersecurity Program through a Merger or Acquisition

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M&A gone wrong: Case study and learnings

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- [Narrator] To help you understand what can go wrong when M&A transaction occurs without a thorough cybersecurity due diligence, Let's take an example of the Marriott Starwood merger. Marriott acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 2016 in a $13 billion deal. Marriott conducted a cybersecurity assessment prior to the deal and identified several vulnerabilities in Starwood's systems, but these vulnerabilities were probably not prioritized correctly and thus did not get addressed before sealing the deal. Then in 2018, just two years after the deal was completed, Marriott discovered that hackers had been accessing the Starwood's reservation system and stealing PII information consisting of names, email addresses, phone and passport numbers and payment card information for a period of over four years. Marriott failed at doing a thorough cybersecurity due diligence and identifying that Starwood systems were already…

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