Mikron’s IT and Security Leaders Talk About Zero Networks

Summary

Mikron, a Swiss manufacturer of high-performance production systems, replaced manually managed firewall rules with Zero Networks to prevent lateral movement on a network that also connects the industrial machines it delivers. Mikron’s CIO, CISO, and IT Team Leader explain how Zero Networks fit their Microsoft-first security strategy, gave them immediate visibility, and freed up a team member who had spent full working hours maintaining policies.

Key takeaways

• Manual firewall rules didn’t scale. Every application change meant updating policies by hand, and one team member spent his full working hours keeping them current.
• The IT team got its time back. IT Team Leader Stefano Baranzini went from hands-on implementation work to higher-value projects, and so did the others who had been tied up in segmentation.
• It fits a Microsoft-first strategy. Mikron’s security pillar is to adopt Microsoft solutions wherever possible, and Zero Networks integrated completely with what they already had.
• They can see and stop lateral movement. The dashboard gave Mikron immediate visibility into its network and let the team simulate segmentation before enforcing it, much faster than before.
• Segmentation is a journey. After network segmentation, Mikron sees identity segmentation and remote access as the next steps.

Speakers: Daniele Coli, CIO, Mikron · Rolando Galeazzi, CISO, Mikron · Stefano Baranzini, IT Team Leader, Mikron

Who is Mikron, and why does security matter to it?

Daniele Coli: We found in Zero Networks a partner that realized what they promised since the beginning.

Mikron is a Swiss multinational. We are present in different countries and we are divided in three divisions. The main two divisions build up machine, specialized machine, and the third division is the most young, and this division produces parts which are in contact with bare metal. Here we are talking about drilling, milling application.

Mikron takes security serious. We work in an environment with customer where security is strong important. So we deliver industrial machine. This industrial machine can store also information. So, and this machine are also connected also to our internal network. So security, it’s important also from that point of view.

What problems did manual firewall rules create?

Stefano Baranzini: Before implementing Zero Networks, our main pain points were scalability and time. Scalability because we created all the policies, and the update was very complex because we had to keep all these policy updated based on the changes of each application behind the policy. And time because we dedicated one single member of our team with this full, uh, working hours on this activity, and, uh, removing his time to other projects or tasks.

How did Mikron find Zero Networks?

Stefano Baranzini: We discovered Zero Networks through our, uh, advisory partner Netability that, uh, presented us, uh, the product. Upon seeing it, I said, I have to share this with my CIO. This is our golden egg.

How did Zero Networks change the IT team’s work?

Stefano Baranzini: My daily job has completely changed because, uh, before Zero Networks I was one of the person involved technically in the implementation, and now with Zero Networks I can dedicate my time to important activities, and not also me but also the other people previously involved in the project.

Why did Microsoft compatibility matter?

Daniele Coli: One of the strategic pillar for security in Mikron was to adopt as much as possible solution in the Microsoft environment. We are a Microsoft customer. We strongly believe that what Microsoft deliver in terms of security can be — and the Zero Networks at the end came up with a solution which completely integrate with what we had. 

What visibility does Zero Networks provide?

Stefano Baranzini: In the Zero Networks platform, the big advantage is to have the clear view of the network infrastructure and also the capability to simulate, uh, network segmentation between all our systems. And this, uh, capability is much more faster than before, and we can see lateral movement and we can prevent this lateral movement and activities inside our environment. 

Rolando Galeazzi: The dashboard gave us immediate visibility. Visibility is the key for my role. Everything was guided. So, wherever we wanted to go, there was a way to get there. There was a, a way to actually, uh, get down to the bits and bytes of the platform. Everybody was actually able to touch it and to manage it in an easy way.

What’s next in Mikron’s segmentation journey?

Daniele Coli: In the segmentation journey, you do not finish just with network segmentation. There are also other aspect that you have to take in consideration at the end. We can talk about identity segmentation or remote access improvements, and, uh, all these kind of tool are again a completion and important for that. We found in Zero Networks a reliable partner, and also they can provide a really good solution in line with our expectation. I think that Zero Networks will always be in the list of our potential partn— activate new functionalities.