OVERVIEW

In the highly competitive alternative energy industry, Ballard Power Systems stands out as an innovator and global leader. Their fuel cells have powered vehicles over more than 50 million kilometers of roads around the world and are found in buses, trams, trucks, and marine vessels. “As a leader in fuel cell technology, protecting our intellectual property is a top priority. We’re in a constant race with other companies to perfect this technology,” says Adam Brooks, IT Director at Ballard. By partnering with Trend Micro to protect the company’s data and intellectual property (IP), Brooks’ IT team keeps the company’s assets safe so their innovators can focus on developing solutions for a sustainable planet.

CHALLENGES

Since fuel cell development is an emerging technology, Ballard must constantly adapt and overcome an ever-changing variety of engineering challenges, so keeping systems running and secure is key. “Protecting our internal environment is important from an IP perspective. For the same reason, we also need to protect our systems and data from ransomware and other types of attacks,” says Brooks.

Ballard’s IT team of 17 is tasked with protecting over 1,000 endpoints across their office, production, and engineering departments. To complicate that task, Ballard’s environment includes older operating systems and PCs that are built into expensive, specialized equipment that can’t be upgraded without going to great expense. Additionally, the engineering department conducts extensive testing—and when their PCs are running those tests, they can’t be shut down or updated. These computers can’t be completely isolated from the rest of the company’s network, leaving Ballard’s systems susceptible to vulnerabilities.

WHY TREND

Ballard began using Trend Micro™ Endpoint Security in 2014. As their security challenges changed over the years, Ballard’s leaders upgraded to Trend Micro Apex One and Trend Micro Apex Central to boost their vulnerability protection, especially for those test machines that use older servers and computers and might not be patched on schedule. “Trend Micro’s vulnerability protection helps us mitigate the risks of older machines. Even if there isn’t a patch in place, vulnerability protection, found as part of Trend Micro Apex One, knows that a vulnerability exists and can run protection for it. By protecting those test machines, Trend Micro helps us protect our entire environment,” says Dave Bailey, Security and Network Administrator at Ballard.

SOLUTION

Trend Micro Apex One uses a blend of advanced threat protection techniques to eliminate security gaps across any user activity and any endpoint. “We particularly like Trend Micro Apex One’s real-time scan, behavioral monitoring, and vulnerability protection,” says Bailey.

The company also uses Trend Micro Apex Central, a web-based console that provides centralized management for Trend Micro products and services at the gateway, mail server, file server, and corporate desktop levels. “With Trend Micro Apex Central, we get one console to manage everything. We use both solutions to produce executive reports, and we use the policy manager in Trend Micro Apex Central to easily push changes out to clients,” says Bailey.

RESULTS

Ballard Power Systems has had zero security incidents since implementing Trend Micro solutions. “As long as I can remember since we’ve been a Trend Micro customer, we haven’t had a major ransomware incident, virus breakout, or any major security issues,” says Brooks.

“The biggest story is that we don’t have a nightmare story. In the old days, viruses or major upgrades would knock stuff out. Trend Micro made that a thing of the past,” says Bailey.

The strength of the Trend Micro security solutions and the automation those solutions enable means Brooks’ small IT team can easily manage security for the entire company. “There is less demand for help from the support side and we spend less time with customers that need assistance. Things just work in the background without our employees even knowing about it,” says Brooks.

An added benefit is the protection Trend Micro solutions provide for Ballard’s remote workforce. Due to the pandemic, 75% of Ballard employees currently work from home. “Trend Micro endpoint security ensures that we can protect our remote employees. That’s been one less thing we had to worry about. We didn’t even have to think about it when employees went remote. We knew they would be fully protected,” says Bailey.

WHAT'S NEXT

Going forward, Ballard Power Systems’ leaders have ambitious plans to continue expanding clean fuel initiatives and pushing into markets where they can replace fossil fuels with greener alternatives. The company also plans to build internet-capable devices into their equipment, which will need to be protected.

As they grow, Brooks says he expects Trend Micro to grow with them. “As we upgrade Microsoft® Exchange®, build business continuity systems in the cloud, and add other technologies and capabilities, we plan on securing them all with Trend Micro,” says Brooks.