cyber-diligence-governance

name

cyber-diligence-governance

description

Guides cyber due diligence and governance—M&A/investment diligence, vendor and third-party assessments, questionnaire and evidence review, control maturity and gaps, integration risk, IC/board cyber briefs, and governance cadence. Use for target or vendor security diligence, SIG/CAIQ review, deal or procurement committee packs, post-close integration planning, or IC/board cyber briefs—not pentest (penetration-tester, web-pentester, network-pentester), AI governance only (ai-risk-governance), risk register without diligence (security-risk-analyst), GRC audit prep (compliance-specialist), contract redlines (commercial-counsel), closing logistics (transaction-manager), control deploy (information-security-engineer), CISO strategy (chief-information-security-officer), or TPRM ops (vendor-cyber-risk-analyst). Draft only; counsel and deal leads approve binding positions.

Cyber Diligence & Governance

When to Use

• Scope and run M&A or investment cyber diligence on a target or portfolio company
• Plan vendor and third-party security assessments (onboarding, renewal, concentration)
• Review security questionnaires (SIG, CAIQ, custom) and map answers to evidence
• Perform control maturity and gap analysis for diligence or governance (not full audit)
• Assess integration and transition risk (identity, data, tooling, contracts, talent)
• Prepare investment committee, deal team, or board cyber briefs with red flags and asks
• Design ongoing security governance cadence (committee packs, exception reviews, metrics)
• Coordinate diligence workstreams with legal, IT, HR, and product without owning closing

When NOT to Use

• Execute authorized penetration tests or exploit validation → penetration-tester, web-pentester, network-pentester
• Classify AI use cases, model cards, or AI vendor data terms → ai-risk-governance
• Maintain enterprise risk registers, FAIR scoring, or risk appetite without deal/vendor lens → security-risk-analyst
• Stand up GRC programs, framework scope, or audit walkthrough prep → compliance-specialist
• Automate SOC 2/ISO evidence collection → compliance-engineer
• Negotiate contract redlines, DPAs, or liability terms → commercial-counsel
• Run closing matrix, signatures, funds flow, or data room logistics → transaction-manager
• Deploy IAM, SIEM, EDR, or remediate findings → information-security-engineer
• Define CISO program strategy, risk appetite, or board operating model → chief-information-security-officer
• Lead active incidents or SOC triage → incident-responder, soc-analyst
• Operate standing TPRM intake, scoring, and continuous vendor monitoring → vendor-cyber-risk-analyst

Related skills

Need	Skill
AI use-case tiers, model governance, AI vendor review	ai-risk-governance
Risk registers, inherent/residual scoring, treatment	security-risk-analyst
GRC program, audit prep, questionnaire response library	compliance-specialist
Contract, DPA, indemnity, and commercial terms	commercial-counsel
Deal timeline, diligence coordination, closing	transaction-manager
Control implementation and remediation engineering	information-security-engineer
Executive security strategy and board operating model	chief-information-security-officer
Pentest findings as diligence input	penetration-tester
Enterprise security program and IR policy	cybersecurity
Standing vendor TPRM operations and monitoring	vendor-cyber-risk-analyst

Core Workflows

1. Scope and charter

Define diligence or governance boundaries, stakeholders, timeline, and deliverables.

See references/cyber_diligence_governance_scope.md.

2. M&A and investment diligence

Request lists, evidence review, finding severity, deal protections, and integration themes.

See references/ma_and_investment_diligence.md.

3. Vendor and TPRM assessments

Tier vendors, depth of review, concentration, and renewal triggers.

See references/vendor_and_tprm_assessments.md.

4. Questionnaire and evidence review

Consistent answers, evidence pointers, stale-response controls, and SME routing.

See references/questionnaire_and_evidence_review.md.

5. Governance cadence and reporting

Committee rhythms, IC/board packs, metrics, and exception governance.

See references/governance_cadence_and_reporting.md.

6. Red flags and remediation

Severity rubric, deal terms, integration backlog, and acceptance criteria.

See references/red_flags_and_remediation.md.

Outputs

• Diligence scope memo — objectives, in/out of scope, timeline, roles
• Request list and tracker — ID, owner, status, evidence received
• Findings register — severity, evidence, recommendation, owner, target date
• IC or board brief — executive summary, top risks, asks, integration implications
• Vendor assessment summary — tier, gaps, conditions, renewal date
• Integration security backlog — Day 1 / 30 / 90 with dependencies
• Governance pack outline — agenda, metrics, exceptions, decisions needed

Principles

• Evidence over assertions — require artifacts; flag questionnaire-only claims
• Materiality and deal context — prioritize what affects valuation, liability, or integration
• Separate roles — diligence analysis ≠ legal advice ≠ control implementation
• Time-boxed depth — match review intensity to tier, deal stage, and access granted
• Explicit handoffs — route legal terms, AI programs, and engineering fixes to peer skills

When to load references

• Boundaries and RACI → references/cyber_diligence_governance_scope.md
• Target or investment diligence → references/ma_and_investment_diligence.md
• Vendor tiers and TPRM → references/vendor_and_tprm_assessments.md
• SIG/CAIQ and evidence → references/questionnaire_and_evidence_review.md
• Committees and board rhythm → references/governance_cadence_and_reporting.md
• Severity and remediation → references/red_flags_and_remediation.md