OVERVIEW
As a market leader, Sligro Food Group dominates wholesale food service in the Netherlands and Belgium, supplying over 78,000 products to restaurants, small and medium-sized businesses, and institutions. With such a large base of customers and products, protecting vast amounts of data is a top priority. As Sligro expanded its online presence, Senior Information Security Analyst Martijn Weterings knew it was time for the company to rethink its cybersecurity strategy. With Trend by its side, Sligro is taking a proactive approach to security to protect its organisation and its customer data.
Rather than focusing solely on technology, Trend prioritised understanding our unique business operations, challenges, and priorities.
Martijn Weterings
Senior Information Security Analyst, Sligro Food Group
Industry
Grocery and wholesale
Region
Netherlands, Europe
Industry
Blend of on-premises and cloud infrastructure
Solutions
- Proactive 24/7 vigilance from Trend experts to extend a small security team
- Critical guidance on long-term security strategy with a roadmap for the future
- Centralised, unified visibility through the Trend Vision One enterprise cybersecurity platform to transform threat management
CHALLENGES
Sligro’s IT landscape is a blend of on-premises and cloud infrastructure that’s deeply integrated with partners, suppliers, and customers. “The connectivity in our supply chain is essential for our operations but also introduces significant risks, as each connection and integration point represents a potential vulnerability,” says Weterings.
As Sligro began shifting toward cloud services, the boundaries of the IT environment became ever more blurred, requiring the company to rethink how it protects its systems and data. “A multi-cloud strategy, while offering flexibility and scalability, introduces additional complexity,” added Weterings. “Each cloud platform comes with its own security controls, configurations, and challenges, making it difficult to maintain a consistent security posture. The absence of a clearly defined perimeter means threats can come from multiple directions.”
Trend’s 24/7 monitoring and swift threat response ensure that our environment is under constant expert supervision.
Martijn Weterings
Senior Information Security Analyst, Sligro Food Group
WHY TREND
Trend has been an essential partner for Sligro, helping the company redefine its approach to cybersecurity since 2021. “Trend guided us through critical decisions. Rather than focusing solely on technology, Trend prioritised understanding our unique business operations, challenges, and priorities. This tailored approach ensured that our strategy was not just technically sound but also aligned with our needs,” says Weterings
SOLUTION
”I appreciate how the Trend Vision One platform provides a unified view of threats across the organisation, consolidating telemetry from endpoints, servers, email, network, and cloud environments into a single, cohesive system,” says Weterings. Network security has also been a game-changer, extending Sligro’s visibility to operational technology (OT) and internet of things (IoT) devices. “In a complex infrastructure like ours, not all devices connected to the network can run an endpoint security agent or sensor. By analysing network traffic and identifying anomalies, the platform helps uncover potential threats that might otherwise go unnoticed,” says Weterings
RESULTS
With Trend Vision One, Sligro transformed its approach to threat management from a fragmented, siloed system to a single platform with centralised visibility. “This centralised visibility has enabled us to proactively detect, investigate, and respond to threats faster and more accurately,” says Weterings.
“Network Security’s insights have been invaluable in strengthening Sligro’s defences and enabled us to see across several NIST framework pillars, making Trend a trusted partner in Sligro’s journey,” says Weterings.
The Trend managed services have had a profound impact on Sligro’s cybersecurity strategy. According to Weterings, “Trend’s 24/7 monitoring and swift threat response ensure that our environment is under constant expert supervision, even outside regular business hours, acting as an essential extension of our security team.”
“This partnership not only strengthens our overall threat management but also allows us to focus on our primary mission: delivering exceptional food service and cementing our position as the undisputed market leader,” says Weterings.
WHAT'S NEXT
Reducing the attack surface remains a key challenge for Weterings and his security team, and Cyber Risk Exposure Management (CREM) is something they’re looking at for the future. “CREM’s ability to assess risks across different categories makes it easier to understand where we stand—not only for technical users but also for less technical stakeholders,” Weterings says.
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