Transgourmet France, Europe’s 2^nd Largest Food Wholesaler, Strengthens Identity Security with CyberArk

Summary

Transgourmet France chose the CyberArk Identity Security Platform to transform the way they discover, manage and control identities and secure access to their business systems and applications. The platform has made identity and access management simple and efficient, giving employees fast and easy access to business applications and infrastructure, while increasing the security of identities and data without compromising productivity.

Company profile

Transgourmet France is part of the Transgourmet Group, a subsidiary of the Swiss Coop Group, and the second largest company specializing in retail and wholesale supply in Europe. The Transgourmet group employs over 29,000 staff and is also present in Germany, Poland, Romania, Russia, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. In France, the company serves more than 55,000 customers in the catering and bakery sectors.

Employees:
3,600 in France
29,500 in Europe

Challenges

Transgourmet France is the national leader in France for supplying food and hygiene products to catering and baking professionals through a network of 40 locations across the country. The company focuses on two main sectors: retail and wholesale on a European scale. Benefitting from its many stakeholders, Transgourmet constantly innovates and delivers over 20,000 various products to its customers. Such innovations include “One-stop delivery” service (where all grocery, fresh and frozen products are delivered in the same truck) and the mobile app where customers can make and track their orders directly in the app.

The company’s modernization strategy has evolved with the roll out of digital and cloud-based services and applications, such as online ordering, designed to improve business processes and engagement with customers. To support this modernization, the company is moving its infrastructure and workloads away from on-premises into a hybrid cloud environment. While this digital transformation increases efficiency and productivity, it also boosts risk by dramatically expanding the number of identities which can be vulnerable to attacks.

After noting there was no visibility or traceability on the process of creating and deleting user accounts, Christophe Beriol, CISO, Transgourmet France, made a commitment to improve the company’s identity security systems. “Essentially, identity security means ensuring the right user has the right access at the right time to only the resources they need. However, the IT department was faced with a lack of visibility and was unable to determine whether accounts created on web applications were deactivated when an employee left. When an employee left, no one took responsibility for deleting their account. Sorting this out was particularly complex to manage,” explained Christophe Beriol. “The complete absence of identity control represented a significant risk for Transgourmet France because it indirectly authorized former employees to potentially access company data for the benefit of their new employer.”

Christophe Beriol built up a cybersecurity team which included a staff member dedicated to identity security and privileged access management. His main priority is to administer the Single Sign-On (SSO) and privileged access management (PAM) portals. As part of the overall strategy of strengthening cybersecurity the CISO decided to engage with the leading service provider in the identity security market.

“From the beginning, there was great rapport with CyberArk and its local business partner Synetis, and both demonstrated a strong desire to work with Transgourmet France. This differentiating approach clearly set them apart from the three other preselected companies,” recalled Christophe Beriol. “The proposals and presentations from CyberArk and Synetis corresponded precisely to our security requirements, as well as our need for reinforced support for the implementation of the project. In comparison the other solutions offered by other companies seemed much more complex to deploy, maintain and adopt.”

Solutions

“At Transgourmet France, we are fortunate to have an IT department and group management in France and Europe that considers cybersecurity an integral part of the company’s success,” explained the CISO. “Cybersecurity is as vital as customer acquisition and other key aspects to ensure the company’s success.”

With full support from management, Transgourmet France launched a new cybersecurity program. The business deployed the CyberArk Identity Security Platform, with the focus on streamlining and securing access for its staff and IT partners. The platform was integrated by Synetis.

“Effective cybersecurity is the combination of technology and human skills,” added Christophe Beriol. “Technology alone is not enough, we also need competent professionals to deploy and support it. We have managed to create an ideal combination that integrates cutting-edge technology, a qualified team, and a trusted partnership with CyberArk and Synetis.”

Utilizing CyberArk Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication and CyberArk Single Sign-On solution, which offers effective resistance to phishing attacks, Transgourmet France allows its 3,200 users to access company resources securely, while protecting company and customer information. The company also secures privileged access in cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments for 70 external users with CyberArk.

“The Identity Security Platform deployment, done in collaboration with CyberArk and Synetis, was quick, easy and smooth. The documentation provided was top-notch,” stated Christophe Beriol. “We consider CyberArk and Synetis to be our partners. As with any implementation sometimes unforeseen events may arise, but collectively we dealt with them. The key lies in the trust in the company and the people we work with, and I believe we have found that with CyberArk and Synetis.”

Results

“CyberArk has made it so much simpler to manage privileged access, providing clear visibility on who has access to which resources and when. We are able to manage and control access far more effectively and transparently. CyberArk is very user-friendly and avoids having to connect to several websites with different accounts and passwords, which contributes to the adoption of the solution and the project by the employees.”

– Christophe Beriol, CISO, Transgourmet France

Additionally, by strengthening security and the improved level of oversight it has made it easier to provide accurate and detailed auditing information. For instance, CyberArk Vendor Privileged Access Manager (PAM) for external service providers provides instant visibility into the vendor’s access and the actions performed.

Furthermore, users can now leverage their SSO to access all applications with one time login through the CyberArk Identity portal. This eliminates the need to re-enter passwords every time they open or close a browser and can access all applications in a centralized location. The company also uses CyberArk Mobile, an app for CyberArk Vendor PAM and CyberArk Identity to support both internal users and vendor access. CyberArk Vendor PAM is a SaaS solution that combines Zero Trust access, biometric multi-factor authentication, just-in-time provisioning of 3rd party vendors to CyberArk PAM. CyberArk and Synetis are currently incorporating Transgourmet branding into the app which is also used by the marketing team so users without a computer can access – via their mobile phones – business resources such as training, HR and internal communication sites.

Key benefits

• Makes identity access management simple and efficient
• Gives employees fast, easy access to business applications
• Expands visibility and control of identities
• Increases security without compromising productivity
• Delivers accurate, detailed and real-time auditing data
• Establishes an identity security template for other group businesses to adopt