---
title: The Cheshire Consultancy Behind the Web Hacking Handbooks Is Being Bought by a Bank
description: Bank of America plans to buy MDSec, a 65-person Macclesfield consultancy whose founders wrote the web hacking handbooks. Completion is due in Q4 2026.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-07-31T05:25:59.391Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/mdsec-bank-of-america-cbest-red-team
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/mdsec-hardware-security-research-73805.webp
categories: Business
content_type: News
region: United Kingdom
publication: Sovereign Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Bank of America said on 30 July that it plans to buy MDSec Consulting Limited, a security consultancy of about 65 people based in Macclesfield, Cheshire. The purchase is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026, once regulators have approved it.

Banks buy security software constantly. What they rarely buy is a firm whose job is to attack them. MDSec's consultants are hired to break into the organisations that engage them and then explain how they got in. Bank of America is proposing to own that capability outright rather than book it one engagement at a time.

## A 14-Year-Old Firm Whose Founders Wrote the Handbooks It Teaches From

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