Fortellar

From close to the acquirer's standard,
on the IMO's timeline.

The acquired entity has to meet your controls, the regulator's obligations, and the customer's questionnaires all at once. We baseline where it actually stands, design the integration against the real complexity, and map every rule the combined entity now owns.

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Why This Matters

Diligence found the gaps. Integration has to close them.

Most post-merger security work is improvised. Diligence captured what existed. Legal flagged the regulatory deltas. The IMO's 100-day plan named "security integration" as a workstream and assigned it to a TBD. Then the deal closes, the acquired IT team inherits your policy library overnight, and the first call with the new boss is about why SIEM alerts haven't flowed for thirteen days.

This is the program that closes that gap on a schedule. A baseline reads the acquired posture against your requirements and the rules now reaching the combined business. The integration is scoped to the seven domains the merger actually touches, not a template. An obligation map names every new and inherited rule with a timeline. You get milestones at day 1, 30, 90, and 365, and a defined handover into managed services after.

Still open the day after close
01

Monitoring coverage

Log sources and alerting don't follow the signature date. Detection gaps open at close and stay open.

02

Policy inheritance

The acquired team owns your policy library overnight, with no control mapping behind it.

03

Regulatory delta

Every new and inherited rule reaches the combined entity immediately, named or not.

04

Ownership

The 100-day plan lists security integration and assigns it to a TBD.

Who this is for

Three situations where the deal team's plan and the security team's reality have to converge.

Situation 01

An acquired company has to meet the acquirer's standard

The acquired entity's CTO or VP Engineering is now responsible for closing the gap to the acquirer's security baseline. The integration management office set the date. The list is long, the team is small, and the existing day job hasn't paused.

The outcomeA baseline assessment scored against the acquirer's controls, an integration program with milestones and owners, and a handover plan that ends with the acquired entity operating to the acquirer's standard on the date the IMO committed to.
Situation 02

A PE firm needs rapid uplift across portfolio companies

The PE firm has multiple portfolio companies that require security uplift on a similar timeline. Each one has a different stack, a different team, and a different audit calendar. The portfolio operations partner needs a repeatable program, not a per-engagement scoping exercise.

The outcomeA portfolio-grade program template applied per portfolio company, with the baseline assessment, the regulatory map, and the integration plan calibrated to the company size, and a portfolio dashboard that rolls the status up to the PE firm.
Situation 03

An acquisition introduces new regulatory obligations

The target carries data types, geographies, or business lines the acquirer hasn't operated under before, new state privacy laws, a regulated business unit, cross-border data flows, HIPAA exposure that wasn't there yesterday. The combined entity is on the hook now, even if the program isn't.

The outcomeA regulatory obligation map across both entities, gap analysis against each new obligation, and a remediation plan sequenced against the timeline the regulator and the auditor expect, not the timeline the IMO would have preferred.
What's included

One scoped integration plan the IMO
can sign on day 30.

A baseline & gap assessment

The acquired entity's current security posture scored against the acquirer's controls and the relevant regulatory standards. Seven-domain rating, evidence-backed, with the deltas named at the level the IMO and the audit committee both need.

An integration program plan

Scoped to the actual complexity of the merger, not a 100-page template. Sequenced across the seven domains. Day 1, day 30, day 90, and day 365 milestones, with owners, dependencies, and the change calendar the engineering teams operate against.

A regulatory obligation map

Every new and inherited regulatory obligation the acquisition created, new geographies, new data types, new business lines, new state privacy laws, mapped to the timeline each requires, the responsible owner, and the artifact each one expects.

A joint operating model

Identity, endpoint, network, SOC, IR, and audit responsibilities mapped across both entities. Who decides, who executes, who escalates, and the forum that governs the work during the integration window and after.

A run-state dashboard & cadence

The dashboard the IMO, the acquired entity's leadership, and the PE portfolio operations partner read from a single source. Weekly, monthly, and quarterly readouts wired to the dates the deal documents named.

A defined handover

Steady-state operations handed to the combined CISO function, to Managed Security Services, or to the acquired entity's expanded team, with the program, the policy library, the dashboard, and the evidence trail intact.

How it works

Four phases. Anchored to the close. Sequenced to the IMO's calendar.

Phase 01

Pre-close alignment (optional)

When engaged before close, Fortellar runs a focused pre-close readiness session with the deal team and the acquired entity's leadership: the integration scope, the seven-domain plan, the day-1 contingencies, and the regulatory obligations the close itself triggers. The pre-close artifacts roll directly into the post-close program with no rediscovery.

You walk away with
  • A pre-close integration scope and day-1 readiness pack.
  • A regulatory obligation pre-map flagged in the disclosure schedule.
  • A scoped, fixed-fee engagement letter ready to start at close + 1.
Phase 02

Baseline assessment & regulatory map

The seven-domain baseline assessment is conducted across the acquired entity, scored against the acquirer's controls and the regulatory frameworks now in play. Interviews, documentation review, platform walkthroughs, and evidence collection feed the assessment. The regulatory obligation map is published in parallel.

You walk away with
  • A seven-domain baseline assessment with per-domain rating.
  • A regulatory obligation map across both entities.
  • A delta inventory ready for the integration program plan.
Phase 03

Integration program execution

Critical-path workstreams execute against day-30 and day-90 milestones. Identity federation, endpoint and EDR convergence, SIEM integration, network alignment, and the priority regulatory remediations are sequenced against the IMO calendar. The run-state dashboard goes live at day 30 and is reported weekly thereafter.

You walk away with
  • Identity, endpoint, network, and SOC integration executed.
  • Critical regulatory remediations completed on the published timeline.
  • A run-state dashboard live and reporting weekly.
Phase 04

Steady-state & handover

By day 365 the combined entity is operating to the acquirer's standard across the seven domains. Tooling consolidation is closed out. The policy library is reconciled. Evidence trails are continuous across the close. Handover lands at one of three doors: Fortellar Managed Security, the combined CISO function, or the acquired entity's expanded team.

You walk away with
  • A steady-state operating model documented.
  • Audit committee readout closing the integration window.
  • A defined next step: Managed Security, CISO function, or self-run.
Expertise this work draws on

The components behind a Post-Merger Security Integration engagement.

Cybersecurity & Compliance

GRC Program Design

The regulatory obligation map is the central artifact, and it draws on the firm's experience as former auditors and GRC leaders. Cross-mapped to HIPAA, SOC 2, NIST, PCI DSS, NYDFS, and the state and sectoral rules that reach the mid-market, calibrated to the geography and business lines the merger created.

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Security Program Development

Strategic Security Posture

The seven-domain baseline assessment uses the same disciplined methodology that anchors Strategic Security Posture, calibrated for the post-close window. The assessment artifact is the input the IMO, the audit committee, and the acquired entity's leadership all read from.

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Technology & Security Operations

Identity & Access Management

Identity federation is the first domain the integration touches and the first one the help desk feels. The published IAM practice runs the directory consolidation, the SSO migration, and the privileged access alignment that the combined entity depends on.

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Cloud & Technology Infrastructure

Cloud Security & Governance

When the merger introduces a new cloud estate, a new landing zone pattern, or a cross-account integration, the Cloud Security & Governance practice runs the technical integration against a reference architecture that's already audit-ready.

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The close is set. Is the security plan?

Thirty minutes with a senior partner. Bring the close date, the acquirer's control standard, and the regulated business lines the target operates in, and we'll talk through how the program would take shape, pre-close or post-close, single-deal or portfolio.

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