The multinational food company Mondelez chose Greece for the establishment of a cyber security center which will manage all its activities in Europe. The Greek hub combined with another one in the US and a third one in Asia monitor 24 hours a day, seven days a week all the facilities of the group which include 140 factories in 78 countries and over 500 facilities.
As Costas Georgakopoulos, Chief Technology & Information Security Officer of Mondelez, pointed out, the center was established a year ago, it employs 31 people, of which 18 are engineers and 13 are specialized cyber security officers. In addition to these, 6 people are employed in corresponding large cities of the Greek territory. The company’s hub is exploring partnerships with universities in the country with the aim of creating appropriate educational programs in the field of cyber security.
According to Georgakopoulos, this is an investment by Mondelez in Greece with a long-term perspective and planning, taking into account the country’s high-level human resources, the positive results of the operation of the center so far and the wider presence of the company in the Greek market after the acquisition of Chipita. It should be noted that Mondelez employs around 1,000 people in Greece and operates three factories.
The next steps include the gradual development of the center, with the goal of employing 50 people within the next two years. As Georgakopoulos pointed out, the cyber security sector attracts the interest of many businesses. Cyber-attacks have increased and have become automated while targeting companies that are vulnerable and present cyber security gaps. The biggest threat at this time remains the so-called ransomware. The magnitude of the threats is huge as companies like Mondelez receive thousands of emails every month that are part of a phishing cyber-attack.
