Case Study: Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição (Ecad) achieves uninterrupted royalty payments and 47% productivity gains with Palo Alto Networks

Safeguarding composer royalties with integrated cybersecurity

Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição (Ecad) manages music licensing and royalty distribution for more than 316,000 composers and artists in Brazil, with a database of 18 million musical works and R$1.2 billion in annual payments at stake. Penetration tests exposed critical gaps in its legacy network and endpoint security—slow antivirus performance and fragmented point solutions left Ecad vulnerable and risked disrupting royalty payments and business operations.

Ecad deployed a unified Palo Alto Networks stack—PA‑3220 ML‑powered next‑generation firewalls with Cloud‑Delivered Security Services (WildFire, Advanced Threat Prevention, Advanced URL Filtering) and Cortex XDR across ~95% of servers and endpoints—implemented by partner Brainwalk. The integrated solution stopped test attacks, delivered full 360° visibility and automated response, increased team productivity by ~47%, reduced operating costs by 30% versus other shortlisted vendors, and ensured continuous, secure royalty distribution.

Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição

Igor Oliveira

Chief Information Security Officer