Case Study: Marriott strengthens M&A cybersecurity visibility with Sepio HAC-1

Marriott - Customer Case Study

Marriott faced a major cybersecurity challenge during its acquisition of Starwood, where millions of guest records had been exposed before the deal closed. The case highlights how hard it can be to accurately assess inherited cyber risk during mergers and acquisitions, especially when hidden or unmanaged devices may go unnoticed. Sepio’s Hardware Access Control platform, HAC-1, was used to address this visibility gap.

Sepio implemented HAC-1 to identify, detect, and mitigate managed, unmanaged, hidden, and rogue hardware across IT, OT, and IoT environments. Using physical-layer fingerprinting and machine learning, Sepio provided continuous asset visibility, policy enforcement, and real-time rogue device mitigation throughout the M&A process. The result was stronger hardware security and a more complete cyber assessment, helping Marriott reduce the risk of inheriting unknown vulnerabilities and threats.

Marriott