IT Risk Is Deal Risk. On Both Sides of the Table.
Whether you're acquiring a company or preparing to be acquired, your technology environment is under scrutiny. AlignLayerNine delivers IT and cybersecurity due diligence that goes deeper than questionnaires and self-reported assessments — surfacing the exposures that affect valuation, negotiation, and post-close reality.
Pre-Acquisition Diligence · Post-Close Assessment · Exit Readiness
The Diligence Gap Costs Both Buyers and Sellers
Standard IT due diligence relies on what the target is willing to disclose. A questionnaire goes out. Answers come back. Someone writes a summary. But self-reported assessments miss what matters most — the exposures the target doesn’t know about, the compromises that happened six months ago and were never fully remediated, the credential leaks sitting in public data, and the infrastructure gaps that will cost seven figures to fix post-close.
For buyers, that’s unpriced risk. For sellers, it’s a valuation hit they never saw coming.
We Find What the Target Isn't Telling You.
By the time we sit down with the target's team, we already have a picture of their exposure. Our questions aren't exploratory — they're pointed. And the answers matter to your deal.
Step 1: Outside-In Intelligence
Before any conversation with the target, we build a comprehensive risk profile using their publicly observable footprint. We identify exposure, assess attack surface, detect historical compromise indicators, and map the technology environment — all without requiring target cooperation or access. When we walk into the room, we already know where to look.
Step 2: Directed Validation
Armed with our independent findings, we conduct targeted interviews and technical validation with the target's team. These aren't open-ended discovery sessions. Every question is informed by what we've already found. This is where skeletons surface — because we're not asking "do you have any issues?" We're asking about specific exposures we've already identified.
Step 3: Risk & Remediation Readout
Your firm receives a clear, executive-level report covering IT and cyber risk posture, identified exposures, historical incident reconstruction, remediation cost estimates, and integration complexity. The output is built for deal teams — not IT departments. It informs valuation, negotiation, and post-close planning.
The Findings That Change Deals
Finding type 1: Historical Compromises
Business email compromises, unauthorized access events, and data exposures that occurred months ago and were never fully identified or remediated. We reconstruct the timeline, scope the exposure, and quantify the risk — including what data was accessed and by whom.
Finding type 2: Credential & Data Exposure
Leaked credentials, exposed API keys, and sensitive data discoverable through public and semi-public sources. These represent active, exploitable risk that most self-assessments don't account for because the target simply doesn't know the exposure exists.
Finding type 3: Infrastructure & Configuration Gaps
Unpatched systems, misconfigured cloud environments, weak identity controls, and security tooling that exists on paper but isn't functioning as expected. The gap between "what the target says they have" and "what's actually running" is where post-close cost surprises live.
Finding type 4: Compliance & Insurance Exposure
Security controls that don't align with the target's stated compliance posture or cyber insurance requirements. A HIPAA-covered entity without adequate access controls or a company with a cyber policy they'd never actually be able to claim on — these findings directly affect deal risk.
Pre-Acquisition Due Diligence
You're evaluating a target and need to understand IT and cyber risk before the deal closes. We deliver an independent risk assessment that informs valuation, surfaces hidden liabilities, and gives your deal team a clear view of what they're acquiring
Post-Close IT Assessment
The deal closed. Now you need to know exactly what you own. We baseline the portfolio company's IT and cybersecurity environment, identify immediate risks, and build a prioritized remediation roadmap so your operating team knows where to start.
FOR COMPANIES APPROACHING A SALE
Preparing to Be Acquired? Your IT Posture Is on the Table.
If your organization is approaching a sale, merger, or recapitalization, your technology environment will be scrutinized. Buyers and their diligence teams will look at your security controls, infrastructure health, compliance alignment, and incident history. What they find directly affects your valuation — and your leverage.
AlignLayerNine helps leadership teams get ahead of buyer diligence by identifying and remediating the same exposures a buyer’s team would find. We assess your environment through the same lens we use when we’re on the other side of the table — because we frequently are.
We know what buyers look for because we help them look for it. Let us help you clean house before they walk in.
From Liability to Value Driver
Exit readiness isn’t just about fixing problems — it’s about positioning your technology environment as a strength in the buyer’s evaluation, not a line item on their risk register.
Assess Through the Buyer's Lens
Remediate What Matters
Document & Position
Typically 60–90 days, aligned to your exit timeline. Earlier engagement means more time to remediate.
What We Tell Every Company Preparing for Sale
Buyers are getting more sophisticated about IT and cyber diligence. The days of a checklist and a handshake are over. Here’s what we see consistently:
- Historical compromises will be found. If your M365 environment was compromised eight months ago and you “handled it” by resetting passwords, that’s not remediated. Buyer diligence teams — including ours — can reconstruct those events.
- Your cyber insurance may not cover what you think. If your controls don’t match your policy requirements, the buyer’s team will flag it. That’s a valuation conversation you don’t want to have reactively.
- “We’ve never had an incident” is a red flag, not a comfort. It usually means incidents happened and weren’t detected — not that the environment is clean.
- Documentation matters. An undocumented environment signals unmanaged risk, regardless of how well it actually runs.
The good news: all of this is fixable. The question is whether you fix it on your timeline or the buyer’s.
Clear Scope. No Overreach.
In Scope:
- IT infrastructure assessment
- Cybersecurity posture and controls evaluation
- Identity and access management review
- Cloud environment configuration (M365, Google Workspace, Azure, AWS)
- Historical incident reconstruction and data exposure analysis
- Endpoint and network security assessment
- Compliance alignment (HIPAA, SOC 2, NIST, PCI-DSS, CMMC)
- Remediation cost estimation and integration planning
Out of Scope:
- Operational software and business applications
- Business process and workflow evaluation
- Financial systems and ERP assessment
- Legal or regulatory advisory
Closing: We stay in our lane. If the engagement requires capabilities outside IT and cybersecurity, we’ll tell you — and help you find the right partner for those workstreams.
Why AlignLayerNine
We're Not a Consulting Firm. That's the Point.
Most IT diligence providers are either Big Four firms charging Big Four rates for a junior analyst with a checklist, or small shops that can identify problems but can’t fix them. AlignLayerNine is different.
We’re operators. We manage IT and cybersecurity environments for organizations every day. When we assess a target, we’re evaluating it through the lens of people who will actually have to secure and manage environments like it. We know what things cost to fix because we fix them. We know what good looks like because we build it.
And when either side of the deal needs ongoing managed IT or cybersecurity after close, we can do that too — continuity from diligence through remediation through steady-state operations, with one partner.
One Partner. From Diligence to Steady State.
Most firms hand off a diligence report and disappear. AlignLayerNine can take the engagement from assessment through remediation to fully managed operations — if that’s what the deal requires.
Diligence → Independent IT & cyber risk assessment Remediation → Address findings, close gaps, stabilize environment Managed Operations → Ongoing AlignCORE, AlignSHIELD, and AlignASSURE services
Not every engagement goes the full distance. Some firms just need the report. That’s fine — we deliver it and move on. But for deals that need continuity and accountability from assessment through integration, we’re built for that.
Your Next Deal Deserves Better Diligence
Evaluating an Acquisition?
We’ll scope the diligence engagement, align to your deal timeline, and show you what we find.
Preparing for Sale?
We’ll assess your environment through the buyer’s lens and help you get ahead of their diligence.