How Weigel’s shielded their enterprise with network and endpoint security

Weigel’s Farm Stores (Weigel’s) operates a chain of convenience stores in East Tennessee. From its humble beginnings in 1931 when it began selling raw milk produced from its “herd” of four cows, the fifth-generation, family-owned business has grown steadily to 68 stores with over 3000 team members.

While expanding both its physical and digital footprint over the past several years, Weigel’s realized its cybersecurity vulnerabilities had become more prominent, involving a complex network that includes critical operating systems as well as sensitive customer data. Protecting those assets is paramount to preserving its reputation as an industry-best retailer with fiercely loyal customers.

The Challenge

The convenience store industry has come under siege by data attacks, with cyber criminals targeting critical operating systems as well as customer card information. The attacks have yielded significant returns – little surprise, as most retailers are ill-prepared to prevent these sophisticated attacks from compromising their endpoints.

“The convenience store industry operates on razor-thin margins, and unfortunately IT is usually the last thing considered,” says Weigel’s IT director. “Malicious groups understand that, and they are focusing their attention on us. They recognize the vulnerabilities and opportunities”.

With limited IT resources and a staff that was already strained, managing security threat detection and response internally became impractical for Weigel’s. Much of the IT team spent a disproportionate amount of time updating legacy antivirus products, leaving them little time to attend to proactive threat management. “None of us were getting any sleep at night,” the IT director says. “Our staff is so small, we were responding to calls and looking at logs at two o’clock in the morning. It was impossible for us to keep up. Maintaining security for our resources and the financial data of hundred of thousands of customers, that’s a very heavy weight to bear. It’s simply not possible in this age to do it effectively on your own. You have to have a partner.”

Choosing a solution was fraught with challenges. Weigel’s needed advanced protection that didn’t compromise performance and that was compatible with its existing hardware infrastructure. No easy task. It also had to be easy to deploy, maintain, and update, thereby freeing its IT staff to attend to other corporate security concerns.

The Solution

After assessing Weigel’s risks and internal IT capabilities, PDI recommended its Extended Detection and Response (XDR) service to effectively manage the company’s network and endpoint security. The service includes a rich mix of crucial threat detection and prevention activities, powered by SIEM and AI-driven endpoint security. But while these components automate critical tasks (at impossibly fast speeds), it is XDR’s human monitoring that ensures everything runs smoothly.

Weigel’s can access automated reports from any digital device, neatly organized in a customized, online dashboard. At a glance, they can quickly find any security event or incident; who has logged into the system, PCI logs, authentication reports. If they see something unfamiliar, they can investigate it.

Weigel’s retains control over filtering, adding customized rules to comply with corporate guidelines. PDI notifies Weigel’s of all questionable threats, allowing it to act against real ones while dismissing those that are inconsequential. Either way, everything is addressed immediately, and real intrusions are appropriately elevated and addressed.

“Unless you have a partner with cybersecurity and round-the-clock operations like PDI, you’re doing it yourself. Or worse, not doing it at all. And if you’re doing it yourself, you’re not sleeping”, according to Weigel’s IT director.

Why Weigel’s prefer PDI

• Exceptional service. Weigel’s has worked with PDI and its predecessor companies since 2009, relying on them for a myriad of IT security and networking tasks.
• Convenience store specialization. PDI understands the challenges that are unique to the convenience store industry.
• Up and running. PDI replaced numerous piecemeal security solutions Weigel’s had been managing and had everything up and running quickly and seamlessly.
• A committed relationship. Since 2009, Weigel’s has looked to PDI to protect its most valuable assets, a deliberate choice that reflects years of demonstrated success.

PDI Security Solutions are purpose-built to unify control with a robust security platform, security appliance, and managed security services. To find out more about how to connect, secure, monitor, and scale all aspects of your business, visit www.pdisoftware.com/pdi-security-solutions/