CASE STUDY our IT systems in less than 30 days ,” said Bretz . “ Cato defied the odds and performed admirably during a challenging time and under immense pressure . Cato did exactly what it said it would do . This is how you earn customer trust .”
“ The Häfele project gave us an opportunity to demonstrate the agility and strength of Cato ,” said Alon Alter , Chief Business Officer , Cato . “ We delivered our hardware everywhere Häfele needed without delay and leveraged our zero-touch provisioning to reconnect locations in hours not days . Häfele got back to work faster in part because of Cato , which is exactly what customers should expect from a true SASE platform and provider .”
Daniel Feinler , CISO , Häfele , tells us about the project in more detail , highlighting how it managed to recover from a critical attack and how this shaped its security approach .
Why did you decide to work with Cato on this occasion – how did its solution stand out in a crowded market ? virus scanner , installed a network segmentation and strictly adhered to the separation of IT and OT .
What did you learn from the recovery process and what advice would you give to other organisations looking to improve their network and security infrastructure ?
Invest in cyber defence both in hardware-software ( SASE , XDR , SIEM , SOC ) and also in your employees . Training for admins as well as security awareness training for your employees . Make sure you have a secure backup ( airgap ) and test the restore regularly . Implement network segmentation , if not already done and separate IT from OT . Establish MFA for all logins . Try to strike a good balance between security and usability . Look at your organisation and how prepared it is for a cyberattack .
How do you operate holistically across your 180-site global network and are there any varying trends between the different locations ?
Referring to the proof of concept , I have to say our network team was very enthusiastic about the Cato solution . Especially the easy administration and the fact that everything worked as promised at the proof of concept was convincing . From the hardware , which was easily shipped to all the worldwide locations , to the connection of the box by a non-IT person . From a management point of view , I liked the fact that it really is a one-stop solution for different security areas that we previously had with different suppliers .
Can you shed some light on the ransomware attack you suffered back in February – what did this look like and how did it impact your operations ?
The attackers were able to gain access to our network and then encrypted all Windows-based server and client systems . Worldwide , all IT-based processes came to a standstill .
How did you recover from such a detrimental attack and how has it influenced your security approach ?
We decided very quickly that we would rebuild ourselves under our own steam . The backup was not compromised and so we were able to restore our systems quickly . However , since we implemented the current security standards during the setup , the rebuild took a little longer . We replaced the firewall and our
All locations ( and group-based user access ) are handled the same way using common generic rulesets . On some locations or for some specific user groups additional rulesets are defined , to e . g . incorporate OT equipment present on these sites or to add privileges , which should not apply to all users . Still , this is all managed on the same admin panels , using the grouping feature for firewall rules .
How would you describe your security posture since the collaboration with Cato and what does the future hold ?
I would say that we can sleep much more relaxed . I think with Cato we get the best protection currently . Coupled with the other changes we have introduced we are in a good current state . The important thing now is to maintain this level and always be one step ahead of the attackers . p
I DID NOT THINK THAT WE COULD SHUT DOWN ,
REBUILD AND TRANSITION OUR IT SYSTEMS IN LESS
THAN 30 DAYS .
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE 65