For 20+ years, Black Duck Audits have set the standard for software due diligence, evolving from open source M&A reviews into a full suite of tech M&A advisory services. Today's enterprises, startups, PE firms, and legal teams rely on fast and accurate audits to uncover security, quality, AI, and development risk.
What you don’t know can hurt you
In tech M&A, what’s in the code and how it was built directly impacts deal value. AI claims may not scale. Hidden security flaws across proprietary, open source, and third‑party code can derail transactions. Undiscovered open source can trigger costly license violations. Poor code quality and immature development processes can stall the product roadmap.
Fast results. Thorough analysis. Peace of mind.
Whether you’re buying or selling, you need a trusted audit partner that delivers fast, comprehensive software due diligence—at any scale or budget.
Get a clear view of code and process risk, including open source license obligations, application security, and code quality, so you can make informed decisions with confidence.
Free audit consultation
Call the audit hotline +1 781.425.4444 or fill out the form below, and one of our audit experts will contact you.
2026 Open Source Risk in M&A by the Numbers
Get critical insights into the real-world risks associated with open source software in M&A contexts.
Assess process risks
Software Development audits assess the processes and practices that compose the software development life cycle (SDLC), including AI use, coding standards, processes, and tools. They provide an assessment of the current state and recommendations for improving the process while reducing development and maintenance costs.
Assess code risks
Identify risky components in your software
Open Source and Third-Party Software audits use software composition techniques, the Black Duck KnowledgeBase™ and open source-expert auditors to deliver complete and accurate Software Bills of Materials, covering open source and third-party components, AI models, license obligations, and conflict analysis.
Open source risk analyses also utilize Black Duck’s proprietary Black Duck Security Advisories to identify security vulnerabilities, operational risks, and encryption functions in use to ensure compliance.
A Web Services and API Risk audit finds external web services used by an application and offers insight into potential legal and data privacy risks.
Get ahead of security flaws in human and AI-generated code
Static Application Security Testing audits combine automated scanning with expert source code review to uncover critical vulnerabilities, including OWASP Top 10 risks.
Penetration Test audits simulate real-world attacks to evaluate security from the outside-in to expose weaknesses in security controls, business logic, and user authorization access.
Secure Design Review audits involve interviews with application engineers to assess the design of core security controls, including password storage, identity and access management, and cryptography. This is then compared against industry best practices to identify weaknesses, gaps, and misconfigurations without testing or analyzing the application or code.
Uncover tech debt and future maintenance and development burden
Design Quality audits use insights from expert software architects and advanced analysis to assess modularity and hierarchy. This provides a clear view into software health, highlights how the architecture impacts maintainability, and identifies potential risk areas for code refactoring.
Code Quality audits combine static analysis with manual code review to assess how well human and AI-generated code is written, including comparisons to industry benchmarks of quality, reusability, extensibility, and maintainability of proprietary code.
Black Duck Audits resources
Black Duck Audit Services
The importance of a third-party due diligence perspective on code risk
2026 Open Source Risk in M&A
A Comprehensive Approach to Software Audits
Legal Specialist Certification Course
Certification Directory