Case Study

Global Cruise Line and Hospitality Conglomerate Addresses Third-Party Access Risk and Reduces Support Costs and Infrastructure Complexity with Xona

Executive Summary

A global cruise line and hospitality conglomerate faced significant challenges managing and securing third-party access across its distributed IT and OT infrastructure. They needed a solution to mitigate third-party risk and address overall complexities associated with traditional access methods. The customer chose the Xona Platform for its fast and easy deployment and superior performance over satellite communications, which is especially crucial for their maritime networks. Using the Xona Platform for both remote and local access has led to significant improvements in user experience, real-time monitoring, compliance, and efficiency. In addition, they have seen cost savings from reduced on-site support and infrastructure complexity.

The Challenge

With maritime vessels, hospitality sites, and thousands of IT/OT systems and assets across their global operations, the customer needed a solution to address third-party risk and overall complexities associated with traditional access methods. As a global cruise line, the customer has distributed infrastructure across IT and OT environments, including maritime networks. The convergence of IT and OT can pose both cybersecurity and operational challenges, especially for maritime networks that consist of various legacy technologies, vulnerable remote access systems, a lack of access control, and non-existent audit capabilities.

Industry: Maritime

Global cruise line and hospitality conglomerate

XONA Platform Deployment

Maritime vessels and hospitality sites

XONA Key Benefits

  • Secures remote and local access across complex, distributed infrastructure
  • Deploys quickly without disrupting critical network operations
  • Improves efficiency and cost savings
  • Delivers responsive user experience across low-bandwidth maritime satellite networks

XONA SOLUTION

After evaluating other solutions, the customer chose Xona’s platform to address its complex secure access needs. Xona’s agentless architecture and rapid deployment (under one hour per site) were crucial, which allowed the customer to quickly roll out the solution across its global footprint without disrupting critical operations.

Xona’s performance across satellite communications was also a significant advantage. It provided the customer’s remote vendors and engineers with a smooth, responsive user experience, especially when accessing critical maritime resources that are high-latency prone. Xona’s real-time access monitoring and recording capabilities also enhanced the customer’s ability to manage third-party access, helping ensure regulatory compliance.

While initially deploying the Xona platform for secure remote access, the customer realized they could leverage Xona’s local deployment capabilities to strengthen their security posture. By allowing vendors and team engineers to connect to the Xona platform instead of directly to their networks or maritime infrastructure, the customer minimizes their attack surface and better protects its critical systems. This ultimately gives the customer complete control over all users’ access.

Using the Xona Platform, the customer saves money and is less dependent on vendor on-site support. It also reduces the complexity of their infrastructure – eliminating the need for outdated and redundant technology like jump servers.

THE XONA DIFFERENCE

Secures Remote and Local Access Across Complex, Distributed Infrastructure

The Xona Platform can extend beyond remote access to secure local access to strengthen security postures without directly exposing critical systems to insecure user endpoints. It provides a seamless, responsive user experience, even across high-latency prone networks. In addition, the Xona Platform offers comprehensive monitoring and auditing capabilities to ensure accountability and compliance.

Deploys Quickly without Disrupting Network Operations

The Xona Platform can be deployed in as little as 20 minutes. With the fewest dependencies needed for deployment, it can be accessed and maintained from any device without agents or plug-ins. The Xona Platform can be implemented quickly to provide reliable and responsive remote access without disrupting network operations.

Improves Efficiency and Cost Savings

Xona reduces dependence on expensive on-site support from third-party vendors, saving significant costs. It helps the customer optimize their infrastructure and eliminate the need for redundant or outdated tools like jump servers. With Xona’s robust security controls, streamlined user experience, and rapid time-to-value, the customer has enhanced the safety, availability, and efficiency of its global maritime operations.

Customer Testimonials

“Xona is helping us save millions of dollars by reducing the complexity and costs associated with supporting our distributed infrastructure. The Xona platform is easy to deploy and use, which boosts our team’s efficiency without compromising security.”
- AVP of Maritime Cyber Safety
“Xona’s ability to support both secure remote and local access has been a game-changer for us. We can now confidently grant vendors and our team access to the systems they need without introducing unnecessary risk."
- Program Manager, Maritime Cyber Security
“The ease of deployment and user experience with Xona has been incredible. We got the solution up and running in less than an hour per site, which has significantly improved our ability to securely manage vendor access to our critical systems.”
- Sr. Maritime Cybersecurity Analyst
“With Xona, we've been able to achieve consistent uptime for our critical systems. The real-time monitoring and recording capabilities have given us unprecedented visibility and control over user access, which is essential for maintaining compliance and security in our industry.”
- AVP of Maritime Cyber Safety

Get a personalized demo of
Xona’s secure access solution

Discover how Xona simplifies your critical infrastructure security strategy. You’ll see how our platform delivers secure, seamless access to critical systems, protecting your infrastructure while optimizing performance and reducing overhead.

Request A Demo