The merger of SpaceX and xAI has people talking about how two companies with two completely different missions can be effectively combined. For IT pros, such mergers can quickly become a nightmare of slashed budgets, general uncertainty, and tech components that won’t talk to each other.

Nor are mergers a rare event for IT pros. A recently published study from EY calculated 4,086 global mergers and acquisitions in 2025 of $100 million or more—up from 3,644 deals in 2024 and 3,283 in 2023. Half of EY’s global surveyed CEOs consider “operational optimization and productivity gains—including digitalization—as the primary objective of an acquisition.”

IT Brew talked to three IT pros who have critical advice for anyone trying to figure out the best way to combine IT stacks post-merger, whether those newly joined companies deal with rockets, software, chatbots, or something completely different.

Come together? Right now?—BH

Your organization’s been hit by a ransomware attack—who do you call first?

It can be difficult to know who to contact when your organization’s data is held for ransom, to the point where even experts disagree. Should the stakeholders know first? What about law enforcement, or threat-response professionals?

Do you have cyber insurance? A victim’s first call or email depends on whether or not they have cybersecurity insurance, according to Paul Caiazzo, Quorum Cyber’s chief threat officer. If they do, calling a broker is the first step.

Mike Hamilton, former field CISO for cybersecurity solution provider Lumifi and current chief technology officer for PISCES International, previously told IT Brew that organizations should immediately call their cyber insurance provider, as the latter typically has a response team on contract to deploy.

Who you gonna call? Suggestions here.—CN

Some New Yorkers have been living out Rockwell’s ’80s hit, “Somebody’s Watching Me,” now that a popular regional supermarket chain has disclosed its choice to collect and store customer biometric data.

As first reported by Gothamist in January, several Wegmans Food Markets locations in New York City hung up signage alerting customers that the company “collects, retains, converts, stores, or shares” customer biometric information, which the retailer said includes facial recognition, eye scans, and voice prints. The move is allegedly an expansion of a 2024 facial recognition program pilot, which was rolled out to help bolster physical security and did not collect customer data. Wegmans did not return IT Brew’s request for comment on the move and the security protocols behind it.

Watch party. Wegmans is not the only retailer leveraging biometric technology in its stores. Last year, a class-action lawsuit filed against Home Depot alleged the home-improvement giant retained facial scans collected during the self-checkout process. In 2023, the FTC banned Rite Aid from using facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes for five years after it concluded the company misused biometric data collected in its stores.

Do you want to be left alone in your average home?—BM

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s weekly news quiz has been compared to getting a company-wide shout-out from your boss. It’s that satisfying.

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