Enabling Zespri’s business resiliency through sound cyber security improvements

Uplifting people, process and technology with a clear strategic and tactical plan of action.

VISION

Zespri are a 100% grower-owned organisation of national significance in New Zealand and represent a significant proportion of our national Gross Domestic Product.

Zespri contributed more than $4.2 billion dollars to our economy in 2023/2024, with more than $4.5 billion in sales forecast annually by 2025. The kiwifruit industry employs over 21,000 people in New Zealand alone and Zespri shipped over 160 million trays of kiwifruit in the last year.

In 2019, DEFEND were invited to discuss how we would take a collaborative approach to raise the resilience levels of Zespri.

OUR APPROACH

Working alongside Zespri, DEFEND presented a plan which focused on uplifting people, process and technology in harmony.

The tailored plan presented from DEFEND included:

• Increasing cyber awareness training and campaigns across the entire organisation.
• Creation of a cybersecurity governance committee with key executive membership and sponsorship.
• Creation of a programme of work aligned with top threats and critical assets.
• Alignment of cyber risk within and across the existing enterprise risk management processes.
• Uplifting and practicing incident response as part of a wider incident management handing project.
• Setup of an executive dashboard to surface up key metrics.
• The implementation of a cybersecurity framework to accurately assess how effective ZESPRI cybersecurity controls were at that point in time.
• The implementation of DEFEND iCE for Security Operations to provide automated global response 24x7x365.

This approach allowed DEFEND to identify strategic and tactical improvements while ensuring improving cyber resilience did not interrupt business continuity. DEFEND were able to leverage Zespri’s Microsoft Security Suite to bring tangible improvement to the entire organisation and its suppliers.

ZESPRI’S OUTCOME

New Zealand’s ability to survive the economic and social disruption that COVID brought with it was in no small way dependant on our primary industries’ ability to grow and export our produce around the world.

COVID-19 amplified the need for robust cyber resiliency, driving overall business resiliency. We look back at that original meeting in 2019, the significant improvements made since then and know that Zespri are in a much better place, and that we helped one of the world’s most iconic brands. Securing the health of our kiwifruit and enabling continued growth at the time when New Zealand needs them most.

“There is no doubt in my mind that our partnerships with DEFEND and Microsoft and the work we have collectively progressed has put our organisation in a much better place. Cybersecurity is incredibly important to Zespri and our ability to serve our consumers and clients is underpinned by great people, process, technology, and of course a valued partner eco‑system. DEFEND are a great partner and help us to safely service our global markets.”

David Scullin, Chief Digital Officer