Photos: Claas
Modern IT is also driving CLAAS’s business processes, with a unified IT strategy that ensures efficient collaboration across all sites. However, the increasing digitalisation in agriculture proved to be an all new challenge for the organisation’s IT department. The more advanced the technology, the more interfaces there are, and the bigger the data streams. And with agriculturalists around the world cranking up their professional game in response to the growing demand for produce, the importance of software, electronics and digital solutions is only going to soar further.
This development lead CLAAS’s IT managers to rethink their systems and security concept and realign it with current realities. For the manufacturer, information security is a critical issue. To keep an eye on connected systems, its IT Security department implemented a security information and event management system (SIEM) years ago. By aggregating and evaluating logs and communication data from various systems, this enables complete transparency into the organisations IT security. In the context of CLAAS’s positive development and increasingly international activities, the company wanted to replace its current system with a more powerful and scalable solution that’s suitable for global scenarios.
“For CLAAS, effective security monitoring is not optional. That’s why we were looking for a future-oriented system that’s both highly secure and flexible, and IBM’s QRadar software ticked all the boxes. Together with Bechtle, we were able to successfully integrate and migrate to the new solution,” says Ralph Höltmann, IT Security Manager, CLAAS KGaA mbH. The new system needed to be flexible and be able to quickly integrate other areas of application. The existing production facilities, global maintenance centres and increasing digitalisation of agricultural machinery pose demanding requirements on the solution.
For CLAAS, effective security monitoring is not optional. That’s why we were looking for a future-oriented system that’s both highly secure and flexible, and IBM’s QRadar software ticked all the boxes. Together with Bechtle, we were able to successfully integrate and migrate to the new solution.
Ralph Höltmann, IT-Security-Manager, CLAAS KGaA mbH
First established in 1913, the CLAAS family enterprise today is one of the top manufacturers of agricultural machinery in the world. Headquartered in Harsewinkel, Germany, the company leads the European market of combine harvesters, and ranks top in the world with its self-driving forage harvesters. CLAAS-built tractors, agricultural balers and green harvesting machinery also compete in the world class of agricultural technology. The manufacturer also makes state-of-the-art agricultural information technology. CLAAS has over 11,000 employees worldwide and in 2018 achieved revenues of 3.8 billion euros.
First established in 1913, the CLAAS family enterprise today is one of the top manufacturers of agricultural machinery in the world. Headquartered in Harsewinkel, Germany, the company leads the European market of combine harvesters, and ranks top in the world with its self-driving forage harvesters. CLAAS-built tractors, agricultural balers and green harvesting machinery also compete in the world class of agricultural technology. The manufacturer also makes state-of-the-art agricultural information technology. CLAAS has over 11,000 employees worldwide and in 2018 achieved revenues of 3.8 billion euros.
The basic idea of a SIEM system is to consolidate and analyse all security-related information at a central point to detect incidents. It enables IT managers to spot potential breaches in real time and quickly respond to threats, such as attempted break-ins with incorrect login credentials or unauthorised attempts to overcome a firewall. The central management console stores, normalises, structures and evaluates all incoming data using policies, correlation models, machine learning and artificial intelligence to uncover and red-flag any anomalies. Bechtle and IBM, together with Bechtle’s service partner, pro4bizz, designed a scalable architecture that builds on CLAAS’s existing investments while providing a sound springboard for future growth.
CLAAS is now able to rely on a much more powerful and robust SIEM system. The performance boost and large storage capacity means the solution can run deep analyses of events and network information. The security team has complete visibility of the big picture and is able to quickly pinpoint, prioritise, evaluate and block potential threats. The consolidated expertise of pro4bizz, Bechtle’s own specialists and CLAAS’s IT staff, as well as the close collaboration with IBM throughout the project enabled the partners to put the new solution into service in a matter of mere days. In the future, CLAAS is expecting to integrate an growing number of diverse systems into its network, including production facilities, a significant number of traditional IT systems, global maintenance facilities, and increasingly digitalised agricultural machinery. With its new SIEM solution in place, CLAAS is now in an excellent position to realise its ambitions backed by an IT security strategy that incorporates highly effective and efficient security monitoring.
Contact person.
Henning Landschreiber
Key Account Manager
Bechtle IT System House Bielefeld
henning.landschreiber@bechtle.com
Links.
- Bechtle security solutions
- Solutions: Governance and Risk Compliance
- Solutions: Cyber Crime and Defense
- Article: IT-Security – From chore to future-driver
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