CHALLENGES

Cybersecurity is a priority for Fischer Homes—but like many businesses, human error is a top challenge. From training employees not to click on suspicious links to ensuring all devices are regularly updated, Riegsecker’s team works hard to reduce risk. However, as the company grows and encounters arise in evolving threats and zero-day exploits, keeping the organization safe from threats becomes increasingly difficult. “The biggest problem was that I couldn’t see our east-west network traffic between our endpoints,” adds Riegsecker. “The attack surface risk management module helps to identify blind spots in our environment, especially where assets are highly exposed.“

WHY TREND

In 2020, Fischer Homes experienced a zero-day exploit and realized that their current security solution was improperly configured by a third-party. “We quickly resolved the incident with the help of a Trender from the IR team who remained in contact with me for eight hours straight, troubleshooting and recommending solutions until the issue was resolved,” says Riegsecker. While competing home builders were down for 10 days as a result of the attack, Fischer Homes was back up and running within 72 hours. This experience provided Riegsecker with the foresight to strengthen their existing security posture with additional Trend solutions.

“Trend Micro stepped up and ensured that our environment was fully optimized,” says Riegsecker. “Our cybersecurity posture is significantly stronger than it was four years ago. When you have people who ensure you are fully protected, why would you want to leave?”

SOLUTION

Fischer Homes added Trend Vision One with XDR and Trend Micro Cloud App Security to bolster the existing deployment. With Trend Vision One in place, Fischer Homes has a complete view of anomalies, threats, and statuses across its entire IT environment.

Trend Vision One – Cloud Security was also added to protect cloud workloads and lock down Fischer Homes’ AWS and Azure deployments. It also allows for geofiltering, which ensures that they know everything that exists in their inventory.

“While we had security protection, we weren’t stopping actual attacks. Trend Vision One – Cloud Security scans everything and removes threats. We went from 70 to 80 alerts to just one or two,” says Riegsecker. “Purchasing via AWS Marketplace has also been very simple for us, giving us more flexibility and helping us to plan our budget better because we know exactly how much it will cost.”

RESULTS

Fischer Homes has configured filters to prevent foreign malicious actors from accessing their systems. With Trend security solutions, Riegsecker has automated much of their threat scanning, detection, and mitigation, freeing up staff time and resources. “Reporting has also improved, and we no longer spend valuable time investigating an onslaught of false positive alerts,” he adds. “With better visibility into the company’s IT environment, we can stay on top of threats and help empower the Fischer Homes workforce to succeed.”

Since implementing attack surface risk management via Trend Vision One, Riegsecker has greater visibility into blind spots by continuously identifying unknown and unmanaged assets across Fischer Homes’ environment, significantly improving their security posture. “With Trend Vision One, the Risk Index is one of the key things I look at every day. If there are any XDR detections, I drill into it and share the reporting with our executive team,” says Riegsecker.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Trend experience has been so positive that Riegsecker is now managing Fischer Homes’ security via the Trend managed detection, response, and support solution. “Trend Service One enables us to focus on high-value projects and leaves security to the experts to handle,” he adds. “With managed XDR services as part of the package, my team now has the freedom to focus on other priorities. Instead of spending 45 minutes tracking down potential threats, I can now simply click a link and determine if an alert is legitimate in three minutes.”

In addition, Riegsecker has added an intrusion detection system (IDS) to the company’s current firewall. This partnership with Trend gives Riegsecker the confidence to work more efficiently and accurately. “With Trend helping us to stay on top of things, I feel like we can really accelerate our business because we are staying ahead of the threats,” says Riegsecker.