Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 20 | Page 68

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security

Cathay Pacific gains firstclass micro-segmentation with Illumio Core

Its name has been on just about every ‘ who ’ s-who of airlines ’ list , ranking top 10 from aircraft safety to ticket sales . These accolades have been all but inevitable for Cathay Pacific as it has focused on delivering world-class airline operations . But when it was the target of an attack , a new inevitability in today ’ s cybersecurity landscape , the Hong Kong-based carrier redoubled its focus on its security program in short order .

“ Zero Trust and least privilege came into the discussion right away . We knew we had to implement micro-segmentation for the right level of protection for our most critical applications ,” said YC Chan , Head of Infrastructure Engineering at Cathay Pacific .
If the end goal of micro-segmentation is to prevent lateral movement and protect ‘ crown jewel ’ applications , the airline had to know its network better than anyone else from the start . The team required visibility into application traffic across the entire network . But more than that , Chan sought a solution that would help it achieve its visibility and segmentation goals in the most efficient way possible . what needs to be protected and can take immediate action on flows to block them or authorize . And with 600 applications at stake , the team exceeded expectations .
The ability to run policies in test mode before going into enforcement played an essential role in the success of its deployment . This empowered on-going collaboration between infrastructure and security teams and application owners . The results ? A reliable , thorough process for enforcement that helped it beat its most pressing deadline .
“ We partner with application owners to review flows and help define policies . You couldn ’ t ask them to read firewall rules , but Illumio ’ s App Owner View map and plain language labels make it infinitely easier for them to understand the flows and apply policy . We are confident that our applications are protected with the right level of segmentation – with no disruptions during enforcement .”
Not only do Chan and team continue to use Illumio to bolster their internal defenses , but it is also helping solve another challenge : PCI DSS compliance . Securing cardholder data is of paramount importance to Cathay . With Illumio Core ’ s mapping and policy creation capabilities , the organization is able to meet many PCI compliance requirements . The team is also leveraging SecureConnect on over 1,000 workstations for instant workload-to-workload encryption of data in motion . p
“ We had discovery tools that provided some visibility and insights , but ultimately did not integrate visualization and policy workflow . In order to achieve our goals by the yearend deadline , we needed an interface that showed us application and workflow traffic and enabled us to act quickly and efficiently to block or allow flows .”
Chan and team turned to Illumio Core and quickly realized it was ‘ the easiest way to do micro-segmentation ’. For one , the real-time application dependency map lets the company see all connections between servers and what their applications are talking to . With that capability , it understands
68 INTELLIGENTCIO APAC www . intelligentcio . com