The drinks companies leading the way on cybersecurity

Nestlé and Lotte Chilsung are among the drinks manufacturers so far best set up in the area of cybersecurity, according to data and analytics group GlobalData.

According to analysis set out by GlobalData, Just Drinks’ parent, the companies are set fair to benefit from investments in cybersecurity. Both recorded scores of four out of five from GlobalData’s Thematic Research ecosystem, which ranks companies based on their likelihood to tackle challenges like cybersecurity and emerge as long-term winners of the drinks sector.

The score column in the table represents the overall score given to a business when it comes to their current cybersecurity position relative to their peers. A score of five indicates that a company is a dominant player in this space. Groups that score less than three are vulnerable to being left behind. These can be read fairly straightforwardly.

GlobalData consumer industry analyst Alice Popple highlighted Nestlé's efforts in the field.

“Nestlé has a custom-built Azure Machine Learning to help prevent cyber security threats,” she pointed out. “Arla has a framework of integrated tools to prevent cybersecurity threats. They are very aware of the dangers of cyber-attacks and therefore are actively creating a contingency plan. Ferrero has a very clear cyber security control system in place, including a team of employees who focus on coordinating and monitoring security and compliance.”

Microsoft has set out how it is working with Nestlé. Together, the two companies have created PhishScreener, a tool Microsft says “can quickly uncover phishing before an employee clicks a malicious link. As a result, Nestlé has reduced false positives, sped up detection times, and increased its overall phishing coverage”.

The IT giant adds: “Nestlé is the largest food and beverage company in the world and employs more than 300,000 people in 189 countries. This massive global presence is great for business but challenging for Nestlé’s global security operations centre, which is tasked with keeping the company – and its 300,000 email accounts – safe from malicious phishing attacks among many other cybersecurity threats.”

Popple, meanwhile, suggested what could move one of the drinks companies scored three up to four. “Suntory has a 3 for cybersecurity, as they do actively focus on this theme but they take more of a retrospective approach to fixing any security issues as opposed to a prevention approach. Having more investment in prevention technology could move Suntory to a four.”

GlobalData looks at a series of underlying metrics when ranking companies based on its themes – issues the research and intelligence group says “keep CEOs awake at night”.

The metrics used include monitoring companies’ public filings, analysing their M&A activity and investment in digital technology.

There can be no doubt cybersecurity should be a major business issue for FMCG boardrooms the world over.

This week, frozen-food group Apetito was breached, resulting in a serious hit to its operations.

The affair, following similar incidents in recent years at US brewer Molson Coors Beverage Co., snacks group Mondelez International, fast-food chain Wendy’s and meat giant JBS, only underlines the importance boardrooms should place on the issue.

“Companies that get a five in cybersecurity must be ahead of all other companies and be truly winning in this theme with no potential cybersecurity risks,” Popple suggests. “Cybersecurity would be at the forefront of their organisational strategy with ample investment in this theme over other themes.”

This article is based on GlobalData research figures as of 10 June 2022. For more up-to-date figures, check the GlobalData website.

How to invest as cybersecurity grows in importance

Comments are closed.