Kayak Strengthens Access Security

Setting new standards in travel tech security

Identity remains one of the biggest reasons for breaches in organizations, which was a concern for Tom Parker, VP of IT and CISO at Kayak. He was looking for a security solution that verified both the identity of the user and the posture of the device they were using.

As a Zero Trust access platform that binds identities to specific authorized devices, and validates that security posture throughout sessions, Tom chose Specops Device Trust to secure Kayak’s access workflows.

It’s really been a game-changer

With Specops Device Trust implemented, Kayak staff can now patch their own laptops instead of raising IT tickets. Security has improved without sacrificing productivity, as grace periods give users time to resolve compliance issues before access is restricted.

As Tom points out, a unique advantage of Specops Device Trust is its integration with Kayak’s SSO system OKTA:

“Rather than bothering people at random times about things that they need to fix or change on their laptops, Specops comes in at the OKTA login, does an assessment of their computer and tells the employee what they need to fix – if anything – in order to bring their computer up to our standards.”

Device trust is now a crucial part of authentication alongside strong identity verification. Specops Device Trust has given Tom and the Kayak security team greater confidence in their authentication workflows, and that the devices they’re logging in from haven’t been compromised. For parting words, he had this to say:

I think what really surprised me about Specops is the dedication of the people who work for the company to provide a good customer experience. If you don’t have a posture management tool then you should [get] one, and Specops is a really, really strong company.