Mercan Properties tackles cyberthreats 90% faster using Unit 42 MDR

SUMMARY

Threats targeted at the hospitality sector are evolving with unprecedented speed and sophistication. With new franchised hotels being added regularly to the growing Mercan Properties portfolio, this Portuguese developer of hospitality assets needed to take control of threat detection and response.

Complex, disconnected security was delaying alert remediation, and recruiting and retaining security talent was becoming increasingly difficult. But with Unit 42 Managed Detection and Response, Mercan is now handling cyberthreats 24/7 with ease and complete confidence, driving a consistently rewarding guest experience.

RESULTS

90%

faster MTTD and MTTR

3 FTEs’

impact achieved via Unit 42 MDR

90%

increase in security productivity

5 weeks only

to become fully operational with MDR service and Cortex XDR

CHALLENGE

Threat actors barred from Mercan hotels

Mercan is growing fast. With 16 franchised hotels already operating – and the expectation of a further 16 opening by 2029 – Mercan needed to modernise its cybersecurity strategy to keep up with growth. It looked to:

Sustain a rewarding guest experience: Any data outage, data exfiltration, or other event risked interrupting operations, jeopardising the quality of guest experience and the Mercan brand.
Minimise operational risk: Separate legacy network and endpoint security platforms limited threat visibility, making increasingly sophisticated threats harder to identify and resolve.
Simplify security: Constant firefighting and competing priorities left little time for strategic initiatives or to hunt for new threats.
Tackle demand for talent: Knowledge gaps, decreased productivity, and higher recruitment costs were all risks, while burnout often led to disengagement.

SOLUTION

“Unit 42 MDR brings the Cortex XDR technology to life”

Following a rigorous evaluation, Mercan chose Palo Alto Networks based on Unit 42’s depth of experience, the breadth and quality of the endpoint security platform, and the overall quality of service.

Unit 42 Managed Detection and Response (MDR), backed by Cortex XDR, proactively analyses and prevents sophisticated threats in real time with less complexity, enabling secure business growth. This simple, connected Palo Alto Networks security platform defends Mercan against the latest threats in every hotel location.

Ensures guest services go uninterrupted

Ensures guest services go uninterrupted By stitching together data across Mercan’s network, cloud, and endpoints, Unit 42 can apply in-depth threat hunting and forensics knowledge to identify and contain threats before they become breaches.

“The intelligence and people behind Cortex XDR are incredible. They understand our environment and act proactively every time. We deployed Palo Alto Networks almost three years ago and have experienced zero incidents since then,” says João Maria Bastos, IT Manager, Mercan Properties.

90% faster MTTR

Unit 42 MDR monitors the Mercan environment 24/7. Analysts detect and respond to suspicious activity in real time, containing and remediating incidents when needed.

Replacing manual triage, the mean time to detect and respond (MTTD and MTTR) are 90% faster than before. Cases can also be closed 80% faster with Unit 42 MDR and Cortex XDR.

“The MTTR is incredibly fast; response is commonly within 58 seconds,” says Marco Correia, Chief Information Officer, Mercan Properties.

MDR is worth three FTEs

MDR is worth three FTEs Previously, Mercan found it challenging to in-source and retain security expertise. Burnout was also a problem. The Unit 42 MDR service has removed the burden, allowing the team to enjoy their work and focus on more strategic projects.

Marco estimates that without the Unit 42 service, the team would need to hire three additional staff.

“The Unit 42 team is an extension of Mercan, freeing our resources to focus on other strategic priorities,” confirms João.

Faster time to value

Mercan allowed three months for the deployment schedule, but the defences were fully operational in half that time. MDR experts configured the environment for optimal visibility and proactively ensured faster time to value across the hotel network.