Finance – Secure M&A Data

Secure M&A due diligence & sensitive financial documents & information

Protect IP

Protect PDF documents no matter where they reside:

Stop unauthorized access
Stop sharing and distribution
Strong US Gov strength encryption, DRM and licensing controls

Restrict Use

Set Expiry

Revoke Access

Watermark

Log Use

Comply Law

Benefits

Secure sensitive financial information from disclosure: data privacy & security in M&A transactions

Key requirements for protection of M&A documents and due-diligence information

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) revolve around the controlled disclosure of documents from a ‘seller’ to potential ‘purchasers’. Or more accurately between those and also their authorized agents (commonly law firms and bankers and venture capitalists).

They are an interesting balancing act between having to make what can be fairly onerous disclosures, or you may later be held to have misled the parties, and yet not have the details leak out into the market or become available to competitors of the organizations involved.

To satisfy other controls you may need to demonstrate which parties had looked at which documents, and that their access to and use of the documents stopped on specified dates – bidding rounds – and may be extended to more serious players or where takeover rules require it.

And most importantly, you need to ensure access to sensitive information ceases automatically after a certain timeframe and that documents can be revoked at any time regardless of where they are located.

Why not document encryption or secure deal rooms for secure document exchange?

Traditionally encryption has been used to protect M&A data by preventing unauthorized access to documents. But that is as far as it goes. Once a document has been decrypted a user has full control of the document including the ability to pass it on to others.

Secure data rooms (also called secure deal rooms or virtual data rooms) are often advertised as the best solution to secure M&A due-diligence information. However they are not as secure as they might first seem.

Secure deal room security issues include:

they rely on password authentication – users can share login information with others and therefore access to your protected documents
content is unprotected on the server, secured only during transfer (SSL), and then cached locally on user’s computers in temporary files where it could be recovered
you have to upload unprotected documents to a cloud server where they could be compromized
they do not prevent printing to file drivers (i.e. users can create a PDF file by printing to a PDF printer) or stop screen grabbing applications

In addition, users must be online to view documents which may not always be convenient.

Using document DRM to protect M&A documents: secure mergers information & stop disclosure

Locklizard document security provides the controls you need in order to realise the sometimes conflicting requirements of protecting sensitive M&A documents and information.

Specific machines are licensed, rather than anonymous people logging into a web or cloud based system, so the control is greater, and covers PCs, Macs and BYOD devices as well.
Access to documents can be stopped and started at any time, even though the documents are downloaded onto machines for performance reasons. So if a new version of a document is produced, access to the old one can be stopped immediately and the new one made available without having to alter customer records.
Logs of document use are available that link to individual licenses/machines, and they can be downloaded in csv format for your own analysis and backup.
Documents may be grouped into families (publications) and access to them granted at the publication level as well as the document level. So administering authorised user access is made much simpler.

Naturally, the overall control of such systems is very important, and you can install the whole system on your own server and under your own control so that you are always in charge of the systems and the data.

Why Locklizard to protect M&A documents & sensitive financial information & data?

Locklizard document DRM provides a stronger alternative to encryption & secure dealing rooms for total protection of M&A documents, due diligence, sensitive financial information & data.

No Passwords
There are no passwords for users to enter so they cannot be shared. Keys are transparently and securely transferred to authorized devices and locked to those devices.

So unlike secure deal rooms, users cannot share access information, and therefore your ‘protected’ documents with others.

You do not have to worry about managing and distributing keys since key management is handled transparently for you.
Secure Distribution
Full control over document distribution:
- Secure documents on your local computer – no uploading of unprotected files to a server. You therefore retain full control over unprotected documents and ensure they can never be exposed to the wrong people.
- Distribute secure documents just like any other file – upload them to a cloud server, your web site, send by email etc.
DRM Controls
DRM controls to ensure documents cannot be copied or shared and you retain full control over them at all times.
- Stop screen grabbing – stops users taking high quality screen grabs using screen grabbing tools. Cloud hosted secure dealing room systems CANNOT stop screen grabbing because they do not install any software on the client device.
- Stop printing (or limit the number of prints). If printing is allowed then we automatically prevent printing to file drivers (e.g. PDF files) – this is NOT possible to prevent with cloud hosted secure dealing room systems.
- Stop editing and copying of content.
- Expire documents after a number of days use, views, prints, or on a fixed date.
- Revoke documents and user access instantly (regardless of where they are located).
- Allow offline use – no forcing of users to be online to view protected documents.
Device & location locking
Control the devices and locations your protected documents can be accessed from.
- Automatically locks document use to authorized devices to prevent sharing.
- Control the number of devices for each user that your protected documents can be used on.
- Lock use to locations to control where your protected documents can be used from (e.g. office only).
Dynamic Watermarks
Add dynamic watermarks to viewed and/or printed pages. Dynamic variables are replaced by user data at print/view time.

You only have to protect a document once for all users rather than having to protect documents individually for each user in order to display unique user information (name, email, etc.).
Track & Log Document Use
See when documents are viewed and printed, by whom, where and when.
Simple to use
Our document security software is simple to use – protect documents by right clicking on them in Windows Explorer.

Manage users and document access via our web-based administration system.

Automate document protection, user management and document access with our command line and API tools.
Cost Savings
No charges per document or user – just a one off fee for unlimited documents and users.

Total security of financial information: secure M&A due diligence documents & data

Securely share M&A due diligence documents, sensitive financial information & data with third parties

Locklizard document protection uses US Gov strength AES encryption, public key technology, DRM and licensing controls, to ensure your PDF files remain protected no matter where they reside.

Our DRM PDF Security products enable you to share documents securely without insecure passwords or plug-ins, and enforce access, location, expiry, and usage controls.
Unlike Adobe Permissions which can be easily removed, our DRM controls persistently protect your PDF files and enable you to revoke PDFs at any time regardless of where they are.
No keys are exposed to users or interfaces and documents are only ever decrypted in memory (no temporary files are used) – see our DRM technology.
Our easy to use adminsitration system provides simple user and document management and unlike passwords, keys are transparently and securely managed for you.
Protect due diligence, compliance, litigation, and corporate transactions by locking them to authorized devices and locations – stop sharing and control use.
Enforce secure M&A document exchange and use – stop unauthorized access, stop copying, editing, and printing, track and log document use.

See our customer testimonials and read our case studies to see why thousands of organizations use Locklizard PDF security to securely share M&A data and protect sensitive financial documents.

Customer Testimonials

We needed to deliver e-book versions of our handbooks while not compromising on security and digital rights. Safeguard PDF security is easy to use and intuitive.

The implementation was painless and we now have a greener, more secure way of distributing training manuals.
Locklizard’s PDF protection is exactly as described – the features are highly effective and I would give it 5 stars.

I would recommend Locklizard to others - their security is simple to use and fit for purpose. It meets common needs of businesses who have information they want to protect.
We would be happy to recommend Locklizard to any company needing a flexible way to secure PDF files.

Safeguard PDF Security has provided us with a very workable solution for sharing of information in a secure fashion. The support has been excellent and very accommodating.
We can cut accounts for a user five minutes before his class starts and he is ready to go. Happy smiling customer, while we still have security and personalized watermarking.

I have immense respect for the product and Locklizard provide great customer satisfaction and service.
We would recommend Safeguard to other companies for its security, cost and ease of use. It does what we expected it to do and more.

Ease of use is a bonus and the implementation was very easy. The product manual is excellent and Locklizard staff are very accommodating.
We sell a highly valued educational product in an open and competitive market so it was important to ensure we had effective security to protect our digital rights.

We highly recommend Locklizard - a professional company with a competitive and professional PDF Security product.
We would absolutely recommend both Locklizard as a company, and Safeguard PDF Security. It has transformed our study materials to the next level.

Not only did this increase sales, but we also believe that it has increased our customers’ ability to learn, which is even more important!
We would recommend Locklizard Safeguard to other companies that need to protect PDF reports. Customers have found the process of accessing the protected documents to be seamless.

Implementation was easy and technical support has been very responsive to requests for help.
Our company would without reservation recommend Locklizard. Their document DRM software opens up delivery of our new products in a timely fashion while knowing that the content will remain secure.

The return on investment to our company has been immediately evident.
We use Safeguard to make sure that documents cannot be opened outside our local network or from a unauthorized computer in order to copy or print the documents.

It is the most feature rich, affordable, & simple to use PDF security product on the market.
Safeguard PDF Security is simple to administer and meets our needs, consistently delivering secured manuals to our customers with ease.

Return on investment has been elimination of many man hours, printing resources and postage – it is estimated that costs decreased by 50% or more.
We would really recommend Safeguard PDF Security to every publishing company for managing ePubs or e-books securely. It is easy to secure PDF files and simple to distribute them to our authorized customers only.

Locklizard also provides a good customer support experience.
The ROI for us is incalculable. We have the security of knowing that our proprietary documents are secure. This is the entire value of our company.

I would most certainly recommend your PDF security product and already have. The ease of implementation was surprising.
We can now sell our manuals without the need to print them first, saving time, money and helping safeguard the environment.

We would recommend Safeguard PDF DRM – it is the perfect solution to sell and send e-documents securely whilst making sure someone cannot copy them.
We would recommend Locklizard to other companies without hesitation.

Their PDF DRM products provide a manageable, cost effective way to protect intellectual investment and they are always looking for ways to improve them. Moreover, their staff provide an excellent level of support.