Case Study: Thales eSecurity achieves streamlined, people-first security during mergers with Proofpoint

Thales eSecurity - Customer Case Study

Thales eSecurity, under Global CISO Bridget Kenyon, faced significant disruption from ongoing divestments, acquisitions and a major merger that left the business operating two separate IT environments with different data classification schemes, policies and access privileges. The challenge was to transition and align systems quickly while preserving operational security and re-assessing who had elevated access across the combined organization.

Kenyon’s team emphasized clear, simple communication, actionable metrics and designing security to fit how people actually work. They aligned reporting and classification schemes, re-evaluated privileges, and pushed user-centered fixes (for example, password managers, biometrics and a novel password-reset system developed earlier at UCL that tied password strength to lifespan and used SMS recovery). The outcomes included streamlined reporting, unblocked security initiatives during the merger, stronger access controls, reduced user friction and progress toward a collaborative security culture where employees can help shape policies.

Thales eSecurity

Bridget Kenyon

Global CISO