Swissport améliore la sécurité et ses activités mondiales avec Cato Networks
Swissport améliore la sécurité et ses activités mondiales avec Cato Networks Richard Thorp has been fascinated with aviation since childhood. A self-described "aviation geek," Thorp is now the Chief Technology Officer at Swissport International AG where he leads IT infrastructure strategy for the world’s largest ground-handling company, ensuring seamless operations across 279 airports in 45 countries handling approximately 247 million airline passengers per year, as of the end of 2024. "If we were an airline, we'd actually be the biggest airline in the world in terms of number of passengers we support and handle," he says.
Swissport's goal is to make a tangible impact on people’s lives by enabling smooth air travel. "If the things we do get people to their destinations safely and on time, then magically, we become more successful and profitable as an organization," he says.
But casting that spell had been challenging for Swissport. Three years ago, legacy IT leadership at Swissport had overcome network challenges with Cato, but more work was needed to address their security challenges, particularly in securing endpoints. Thorp and Swissport CISO, Giles Ashton-Roberts, joined Swissport in the middle of the Cato deployment. Having deep experience with a legacy zero trust provider, they were skeptical that Cato could meet Swissport’s requirements.
Over the next 10 months of meetings, investigation, and testing Thorp and Ashton-Roberts challenged Cato, ultimately changing their perspective. “IT is no longer seen as a blocker; it just works,” says Thorp. "I relax a bit more with the Cato platform around. It's given us holistic way of protecting ourselves today, and a secure foundation for everything we want to do in the future."
The Challenges of a Global, Always-On Operation
Swissport’s network supports millions of passengers, cargo shipments, and lounges worldwide. Three years ago, scale was an enormous challenge—ensuring reliable connectivity for operations spanning locations and time zones. The company relied on a mix of MPLS and regional SD-WAN solutions across its now 320+ sites and airport locations. But bandwidth limitations and performance variability impacted many applications, including cloud-based, mission-critical applications.
As a result of that complicated network, expanding to new locations was resource-intensive, requiring manual setup and multiple vendor dependencies. Differences between networking tools made troubleshooting inconsistent and time-consuming. The IT team in turn had to maintain expertise in multiple networking technologies, increasing operational overhead.
Visibility was an enormous challenge. With multiple network platforms in place, Swissport’s IT team lacked a centralized view of network performance and security threats. "In the past, working with multiple systems meant inconsistency,” says Thorp. “Different platforms required different configurations, which complicated troubleshooting and made security enforcement a challenge.”
Swissport relied on a patchwork of security appliances, including firewalls and web gateways. Remote users connected through different VPN servers deployed across different regions. The complex appliance stack required manual maintenance and lacked centralized visibility and control. Security patching was manual and error-prone and implementing consistent security policies was practically impossible, weakening Swissport’s security posture. What security inspection existed was relegated to unencrypted traffic due to the well-founded concern that inspecting encrypted traffic could break the application experience that in this case were airline partners' systems. Finally, the lack of consistent, advanced threat detection worldwide limited Swissport’s ability to detect and stop threats.
Visibility Differentiates the Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Recognizing these inefficiencies, Swissport’s legacy IT team initiated the Cato relationship, connecting many of the now 320+ sites and instances in AWS and Azure to the Cato SASE Cloud Platform. When Thorp and the new IT leadership joined Swissport, about two-thirds of the connections had been deployed. Having been familiar with a legacy cybersecurity provider, Thorp and the IT team had initially leaned away towards deploying that architecture. Hearing about the value of Cato they decided to have a closer look.
"What really drew me to Cato is the visibility the platform provides. It’s incredibly easy to pinpoint connectivity issues, analyze traffic patterns, and secure our network from a single interface," says Thorp. Cato uniquely stores the metadata of all enterprise traffic crossing the Cato SASE Cloud Platform -- whether to the Internet or another location -- from all endpoints -- in the office and outside of it -- in a single data store. This incredible resource provides Cato customers with deep, end-to-end insight into their complete network.
Much Improved Security and a Better Network
With a platform that is resilient, secure, and easy to manage, Swissport has been able to take a more proactive approach to security, streamline IT processes, and ensure a seamless digital experience for employees across the globe.
Advanced threat prevention now operates globally and protects against malware and ransomware even in encrypted traffic. "Cato's TLS Inspection gives us the ability to inspect encrypted traffic while avoiding unintended service disruptions," says Ashton-Roberts. "It's been a major improvement to our security posture."
Fine-grained access control through the always-on Cato Client connects remote users to Cato, granting access only to permitted resources. The Cato Client fully implements zero trust principles and operates outside and inside the office under one common policy set. “With Cato, every device—whether in a Swissport office or in an airport lounge—operates under the same set of security policies. That level of consistency wasn’t possible before," says Ashton-Roberts.
Access is across the Cato Global Private Backbone built into the Cato SASE Cloud Platform, delivering an exceptional, secure user experience anywhere in the world. Cato not only delivers optimized network performance worldwide but also makes deploying new network sites effortless. “Connecting new airlines or contracts now takes just a few clicks," says Thorp. Thorp’s team has also dramatically reduced network resolution times. “We recently identified and solved a performance issue in a South African location that would have taken us days before Cato," says Thorp. "Within 15 minutes, our team identified excessive database traffic, blocked the device, and restored normal operations."
Transforming IT By Transforming the Infrastructure
The transformative impact of the Cato SASE Cloud Platform on the IT team has been profound. Previously, managing multiple networking platforms required maintaining expertise in diverse technologies, creating an operational burden. The IT staff was constantly troubleshooting connectivity issues, manually configuring security appliances, and dealing with inconsistent policies across different locations. The shift to Cato not only simplified management but also allowed the IT team to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives.
"Before Cato, we had to maintain different skill sets for different platforms, which spread the team thin. Now, we have one standardized system that allows us to be much more efficient," Thorp says.
By consolidating security and networking into a single platform, Swissport has been able to optimize resource allocation and improve overall productivity. The newfound network visibility has also brought a shift from reactive to a proactive IT strategy that has helped the company ensure consistent service delivery across its global operations.
“For me, Cato future proofs Swissport’s IT infrastructure,” says Thorp. “The platform constantly evolves, adapts to new technologies, and provides the visibility and security we need to support our business today and tomorrow.”
Partnership With Cato Proved Unique
The success of Swissport’s IT transformation was built on more than just technology—it was about forming a strong, collaborative relationship with Cato Networks. From the start, Cato worked closely with Swissport to understand its unique challenges and deliver tailored solutions that addressed its global security and networking needs. "We worked directly with Cato's product team to enhance capabilities—not just for us, but for all customers,” says Thorp.
Features requested by Swissport were implemented on schedule, unlike other vendors who provided only lip service. Thorp says, “Many vendors say they listen, but Cato actually delivers on what they promise."
This close partnership has given Swissport confidence that their evolving needs will continue to be met as Cato refines its platform. "With Cato, we’re not just another customer; we’re part of a continuous innovation cycle that ensures our IT infrastructure remains future-ready," says Thorp. "It’s rare to find a vendor so responsive and committed to delivering what they promise.”
Looking Ahead to the Future
Swissport IT requirements continue to evolve with Cato remaining a key pillar. “With Cato in place, we know that our network is not the limiting factor in our growth,” Thorp explains.
The ongoing partnership between Swissport and Cato ensures that as technology continues to evolve, Swissport’s IT infrastructure remains secure, scalable, and adaptable to the demands of a fast-paced aviation industry.
On a personal level, Cato has given Thorp peace of mind. "I relax a bit more with the Cato platform around. It's given us a holistic way of protecting ourselves today and a secure foundation for everything we want to do in the future. Swissport’s IT leadership now can focus on innovation rather than crisis management.”
