A secure foundation for an agile organization
With globally dispersed teams and a constantly evolving network due to acquisitions, it was challenging for Accenture to get complete visibility into its internet assets and services.
Accenture is fiercely dedicated to providing exceptional value to its clients, who include more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500. In the digital age, companies will disrupt or be disrupted. Accenture constantly aims to be at the vanguard of change so it can empower its clients to do the same.
To ensure its top-tier services are paired with a top-tier cyber risk posture, Accenture chose Cortex® Xpanse™ to automate the internet asset discovery and inventory process, reduce its attack surface on-premises and in the cloud, and securely manage M&A network integrations
Automating asset inventory and security processes
With half a million employees and offices in 52 countries, Accenture must manage and secure internet assets and services across a complex and constantly changing global network. A core part of this effort is automating its internet asset inventory and security processes across the board.
With Expander, a core solution within the Xpanse Internet Operations Management Platform, Accenture developed a complete, current, and accurate inventory of all of its internet assets and services. In addition, the effort surfaced problematic exposures like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) servers and a misconfigured database. Now, Accenture is empowered to respond quickly if an issue arises with this continuously updated inventory of IP addresses, domains, and certificates from Xpanse.
With heightened visibility into internet assets and services associated with them, Accenture was able to intensify its attack surface reduction efforts on-premises and in the cloud as well as reduce mean time to inventory and remediate issues. At a time when any employee with an email address and a credit card can spin up cloud infrastructure, the ability to discover, monitor, and remediate issues across both on-premises and cloud assets is critical. With Xpanse, Accenture has accelerated and streamlined remediation.
Securing business growth
Accenture has an aggressive business growth strategy. As in any acquisition, when Accenture acquires a new company, it also takes on that company’s cyber risks.
With Xpanse, Accenture completed cyber due diligence on, and then integrated the assets associated with, 27 different acquisitions. Accenture was able to monitor assets disclosed by acquired companies as well as proactively discover those companies’ unknown assets. This made it possible to quickly bring those assets under management and eliminate any associated risks.
With continuous discovery and monitoring of assets as well as any communications between those assets and the internet, Accenture has a secure foundation to continue delivering exceptional service to its customers in the digital age.
To learn more about Cortex® Xpanse™, visit paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xpanse.
Share this story
