CUSTOMER CASE STUDY AG BARR

Sophos Managed Detection
and Response offers 24/7
security provision without
recruiting additional staff
at AG Barr
Established over 145 years ago in Scotland, AG Barr is a branded consumer
goods business which now operates across the UK and with export markets
throughout the world. With a range of much loved brands, including Rubicon
fruit, juice and energy drinks, as well as its Funkin cocktails, AG Barr is best
known for its iconic soft drinks brand IRN-BRU, launched in 1901 and stillgoing strong today.

CUSTOMER-AT-A-GLANCEAG BarrIndustry
Manufacturing
Sophos Customer
Since 2018

Sophos Solutions
Managed Services
Managed Detection and Response
Products
Email & Cloud including Phish Threat
Endpoint including Mobile and Encryption

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY AG BARR

“We were facing increasing threats as an industry, coupled with thefact that we just didn’t have the internal resource to deliver a 24/7
protective service. We needed a service that didn’t just provide morealerts - a proactive service that could respond on our behalf.”
Paul Ginestri, Information Security Specialist, AG Barr

In recent years, the manufacturing industry
became a prevalent target for security attacks
due to legacy systems and unpatched
applications. When Paul Ginestri took on the roleof Information Security Specialist at AG Barr,
his first priority was to minimise this risk byadopting a more proactive approach to security
and protecting the company 24/7. A key aspectof his strategy was to bring in Sophos Managed
Detection and Response (MDR) enabling Paul toextend security without the need for additional
personnel. ,Business challenges

The solution

As a relatively small business, AG Barr didn’t havethe internal resources to develop round-the-clock
security provision. Their newly recruited Information
Security Specialist, Paul Ginestri, needed to find away to reduce the company’s cyber risk without
the delay, significant cost and difficulty involved insourcing experienced security professionals.

Paul led a procurement project to find a security
management service that could work together withAG Barr to keep the company safe 24/7. Sophos
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) wasassessed against competing products, and waschosen as the preferred solution for various reasons:

The main challenge for AG Barr was access to theskilled resource required to proactively search out
security threats across a technology estate oflaptops, desktops, servers, mobiles and tablets on a24/7 basis.
Paul began to look for companies that could help
him plug the gap easily, quickly and expertly. He
needed an external team of specialists who could
track, analyse, resolve and prevent security attacks,
and this is why he turned to Sophos.

Ì Intuitive to use with a great user interface
Ì Easily and quickly deployedÌ Centrally delivered through one portal thatprovides a holistic view of the technology estateÌ A mature, robust product that held promisefor the future with a strong roadmap
Ì Provides access to a team of information security
experts who proactively search for threats“With this kind of service, trust is everything.
With Sophos we are constantly reassured of
their knowledge and expertise with evidence
and reports that give you, for example, thedetail behind why a potential threat is benign.”
Paul Ginestri, Information Security Specialist, AG BarrÌ MDR team investigates the scope andseverity of threats and delivers a resolution
Ì Provides advice on how to improveyour security posture and help prevent
such attacks in the future
AG Barr became early adopters of Sophos MDR,buying into the standard service for the first twoyears. Over time, both the company and the productevolved, and as Sophos has released new features,
AG Barr has benefited from these without further
outlay of capital funds, providing increasing valuefor money.
Based on the success of the first two years, AG
Barr renewed its contract with Sophos in 2021 andalso upgraded to the advanced service to further
enhance their security protection.

Business benefits
The Sophos MDR team of security experts isavailable 24/7, providing Paul with the help heneeds to greatly increase protection across theentire technology estate. The service centralises
effort without reducing layers of security – including
both Sophos and third-party products.
By buying into a managed service, Paul has beenable to undertake preventative work to increase
security and avoid breaches rather than fire-fighting
security threats as and when they occur. Furtherbenefits include:
Integrated partnership
AG Barr benefits from an integrated team approachwith Sophos who deliver ‘always on’ access toexperts. This working partnership between the two
teams has been essential and it’s this that Paulsays delivers excellent value for money.

Timely and responsive service
The highly responsive nature of Sophos and theMDR team of specialists means that there is nodelay in dealing with any potential threats. Thisis a crucial barometer of success for Paul. Before
Sophos MDR, he believes that any suspicious
activity could have easily taken out an entire day forhim, so he saves time and has peace of mind that
all threats are being swiftly managed.
Releasing personnel resource
AG Barr has saved time and money by not having
to recruit a much larger team to manage a service
that matches Sophos MDR. Further time is saved byreleasing the IT teams to undertake more proactive
tasks instead of being drawn into managing
security challenges.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY AG BARR

Transfer of knowledge
Access to up-to-date security expertise isinvaluable for Paul. Being able to instantly contact
a team of specialists provides a vital second opinion
and a supportive add-on for him and his team.
The personal touch
Sophos MDR blends the best in security and an
outstanding service to deliver robust security
provision 24/7 through a dedicated contact, withownership of the AG Barr account. Paul finds it
refreshing and essential that Sophos is not a
faceless corporation that hides behind automatedemail processes and service-level agreements.
Paul concludes: “Having experts we can trust at theend of the phone, without delay, to help us navigate
the constant security threats we face, not only
delivers peace of mind but extraordinary value formoney. It also saves us the expense of recruiting up
to five new employees to take on this work.”

Learn more about MDR© Copyright 2022 Sophos Ltd. All rights reserved.
Registered in England and Wales No. 2096520, The Pentagon, Abingdon Science Park, Abingdon, OX14 3YP, UKSophos is a registered trademark of Sophos Ltd. All other product and company names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

2022-06-30 CCS-ES (NP)