Summary: Global testing giant SGS has officially announced the acquisition of Panacea Infosec today. The move is designed to capture the booming “Digital Trust” market, integrating Panacea’s expertise in payment security (PCI DSS) and SOC services into SGS’s massive global compliance network.
Business Impact: For consultancies in the GCC and India, this consolidation creates a new behemoth in the compliance space. It signals that “cybersecurity audit” is merging with “industrial quality assurance,” likely raising the bar for standard vendor certifications in 2026.
Why It Happened: Traditional certification bodies are racing to acquire specialized cyber firms to stay relevant as regulations like DORA (EU) and DPDP (India) mandate rigorous technical auditing beyond simple paper-checks.
Recommended Executive Action: Review your current PCI-DSS and SWIFT audit partners. Expect pricing changes or service portfolio expansions if you are currently using Panacea or SGS. Assess if your own consultancy needs to partner with larger “Trust Providers” to compete.
Hashtags: #M&A #SGS #PanaceaInfosec #DigitalTrust #Compliance #CyberBusiness