The Marcegaglia Group, a leading steel processing company, successfully enhanced its IT security by implementing Cisco's comprehensive security solutions, achieving an 80% reduction in maintenance and management time. With the integration of Cisco Firepower 8250 and centralized management via Cisco FireSight, the group improved threat detection effectiveness to 100%. This upgrade not only fortified their security posture but also aligned with their long-term strategic needs, demonstrating the critical role of IT security in sustainable business growth.

1. “Thanks to Cisco, we’ve reduced the hours allocated to
maintenance and security management operations by 80%.””
Livio Bonatti, Information Technology & Network
Infrastructure Manager, Marcegaglia Group
Even companies and organizations operating in sectors where the computerization
of production processes is an essential feature have only recently begun
to experience the advantages of complete ICT security based on systems
able to ensure that an operating environment is safe from external and
internal threats and attacks. Executing a truly 360-degree security strategy
makes it possible to protect all kinds of corporate resources - from the
data and information stored in data centers to industrial systems and
network-connected devices – while reducing costs and the time spent on
maintenance and management. The Marcegaglia Group chose Cisco as its
sole reference brand to implement a complete and comprehensive security
platform capable of meeting all its security needs, both now and in the future.
• Achieve next-generation IPS performance levels
adequate for the dimensions of the new Data Center
• Set up a homogeneous and centrally controllable security
environment for both wireless and wired networks
• Integrate technologies appropriate to a long-term strategy
The challenge
IT security,
a vital factor for
long-term growth
The Marcegaglia Group confirms an IT security
strategy based on Cisco solutions with the
acquisition of centrally managed firewall tools
and a Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System.
The Marcegaglia Group is a world leader in the steel processing sector which
operates out of Italy on a global scale, with 43 plants spread over a total area of
6 million square meters. The Group comprises 7,000 employees, 60 commercial
offices and 210 sales points for a turnover in 2013 of more than 4 billion euros
from the steel industry and its other diversified business interests. Each day it
produces 5,500 kilometers worth of stainless steel and carbon steel products
for over 15,000 customers, for a total of more than 5 million tons of processed
steel per year.
© 2015 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

2. Cisco’s FirePOWER 8000 Series
Appliances are the most effective platform
for the Cisco NGIPS (Next-Generation
Intrusion Prevention System) solution,
which integrates visibility, automated
management and intelligent security
functions to provide reliable performance
at competitive costs.
• Integrate Cisco’s FirePOWER 8250 NGIPS into the Cisco
ASA 5545 firewall
• Integrate the Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center to
centrally manage network security
• Use Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE) to administer
network access and monitor device behavior
The solution
Case Study | Marcegaglia Group
Employees: 7.000 Sector: Heavy Industry
The group was founded in 1959 and is still fully owned and managed by the
Marcegaglia family from its headquarters in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti (Mantua).
After expanding the capacity of its Data Center by boosting connectivity to 10
gigabits, the Group realized it now needed to bring its IT security platform up
to speed, starting with the Intrusion Prevention System, which could no longer
keep pace with the performance of the new Data Center infrastructure. With
the objective of integrating the best of natural technological evolution into an
environment which already included Cisco ASA 5545 firewall appliances, the
Marcegaglia Group chose the Cisco FirePOWER Appliance 8250 as the solution
most in line with its security strategy for the future.
Intrusion prevention is a critical factor
After the Data Center infrastructure was upgraded, the Intrusion Prevention
System (IPS) already in place at the Group’s offices and plants proved
unable to match the performance of the new appliances. The efficiency
level dropped well below 70% of threats, jeopardizing Marcegaglia’s IT
systems and resources: almost a third of attacks could not be blocked, with
all the consequent risks for operations and business.
© 2015 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

3. To deal with the problem, the Group launched a test phase during which the
five most commercially successful IPS solutions were compared. “The proof
of concept allowed us to implement the solutions in parallel on different
network segments, to verify which one was best suited to our security
requirements,” said Livio Bonatti, Information Technology & Network
Infrastructure Manager for the Marcegaglia Group. It was during this
phase that the functionalities which convinced the Group to chose Cisco’s
FirePOWER 8250 Appliance emerged.
Thanks to the next-generation FirePOWER intrusion prevention technology,
the 8000 Series appliances can enable features such as real-time context
recognition, complete visibility and intelligent security automation.
And that’s not all. The Cisco FirePOWER Appliance 8250 was identified
as the solution which could be fully integrated into the pre-existing Cisco
firewall environment, thereby validating it as a natural evolution of the
investment just made in Cisco’s ASA 5545 firewall. “Confirming the choice
of Cisco solutions enabled us to structure an IT security platform in line with
the company’s security strategy for the future,” said Bonatti.
Centralized management for distributed benefits
Setting up a single environment based on Cisco technology to protect
against threats and intrusions also enabled Marcegaglia to implement
a comprehensive security solution that can be centrally managed. “We
adopted the Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center as a centralized
management console,” said Bonatti. “This means we can now manage the
whole pre-existing firewall configuration together with the newly-added
Next-Generation IPS solution.”
Indeed, the Marcegaglia IT administrators can now centrally control all the
network security services provided by the Cisco ASA firewalls and the
FirePOWER 8250 appliance. “The ease with which we can manage the
entire security environment adds to the quality of the solution in terms of its
effectiveness, which was verified as 100% in detecting threats of attack,”
said Bonatti. “Not to mention the possibility of future developments of the
platform, which will enable us to maximize the value of our investment.”
The advantages of centrally managing the security apparatus of an
organization like the Marcegaglia Group are obvious. “All of our plants have
installed or will soon install a Cisco firewall,” said Bonatti. “Up until a few
years ago, our network infrastructure devices were managed individually
and we had no uniform system to protect against malware.” With the
centralization of IT security management via a single console for both the
firewalls and the Next-Generation IPS modules, Marcegaglia has taken a
major qualitative leap forwards.
© 2015 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

4. Savings in time and resources
Bonatti identifies the optimization of security management for all locations
and plants as one of the main benefits of the new configuration. “With just a
few policies distributed across the entire IT environment we have complete
control, whereas before we had to connect with each individual device in
order to manage different policies, resulting in a substantial waste of time
and resources.”
A greater level of security has corresponded to a concrete acceleration of
maintenance operations. “The hours devoted to policy management and, in
general, to all security-related activities have been reduced by 80%.”
More security in the future
The roadmap outlining Marcegaglia’s present and future security strategy
has seen further developments. After upgrading its infrastructure and IT
security solutions, the Group also installed the Cisco Identity Services
Engine (ISE), a platform based on context-aware identity management
which gathers real-time information from the network, users and devices
to enable security policy to be applied and network access to be better
managed by companies deploying BYOD, who need to make resources
and work tools available through the corporate network. “Cisco ISE helps
us manage wireless and wired access, and it acts as the reference for
switches and access points as regards the policies to be implemented
when a device connects to the corporate network,” Bonatti explained.
This architecture fully integrates with the Cisco FirePOWER Appliance
8250. “Cisco ISE identifies roles and privileges across the network, but it’s
the FirePOWER Appliance which inspects the data traffic.” If malware is
detected, the Appliance communicates the risk of attack to the Cisco ISE.
“The infected device can then be investigated and kept away from the more
vulnerable corporate resources.”
• Increased overall security levels for the IT infrastructure
• 80% reduction of management time
• Protection of the technology investment thanks to
security solutions adopted as part of a long-term
strategy
Results
© 2015 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

5. Security is also decisive for business
The project developed by the Marcegaglia Group is proof of the growing
tendency of companies and organizations in every sector to consider IT
security a vital factor in growth and business. “The Group’s management
understood that the security project developed using Cisco solutions
was crucially important,” said Bonatti. “Thanks to this approach, we were
able to demonstrate the effectiveness of a 360-degree security vision
as compared to non-unified actions targeting individual problems, while
avoiding heavy investments in the initial stage.”
Cisco’s IT security solutions are well suited to strategies that can enable
the needs of a company like Marcegaglia to be met scalably and flexibly,
needs that range from protecting network devices to safeguarding
industrial equipment. “The use of Cisco solutions allowed us to implement
a comprehensive project with which we achieved all our objectives, of
protecting the network and corporate resources.”
Cisco products and solutions
• Cisco FirePOWER Appliance 8250
• Cisco ASA 5545
• Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center
• Cisco Identity Services Engine
For more information
More information about the Cisco architectures and solutions referred to in this
case study are available at www.cisco.com/web/IT/products/security/index.html
For more information about the Marcegaglia Group, see www.marcegaglia.com
Security
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