FBD Insurance

FBD was formed in the 1960s by farmers for farmers, and has become the leading insurer in Ireland's agriculture sector, with over 1,000 staff operating from a Dublin head office. The nature of cyber risk has shifted significantly for FBD in recent years: less about locking data down in one place, more about managing flexible user access across hybrid cloud, on-premise systems and a wide range of end-user devices, while still keeping data controlled. That shift brought a different kind of complexity to FBD's IT and cybersecurity posture.

Operating in a heavily regulated financial services environment, FBD faces the same standards as any large corporate, with operational resilience and the incoming DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) requirements as the current area of focus.

FBD went live on Smarttech247's VisionX platform within a small number of weeks of engagement, establishing credibility quickly not just internally but across FBD's IT service providers and wider supply chain, relationships that have persisted over many years since.

A notable result has been a reduction in false positives, which matters because it means that when Smarttech247 does raise an alert, FBD's team pays close attention, confident in the accuracy behind it, and triages and acts on it quickly. FBD also credits Smarttech247 with strong cross-team coordination, its own internal teams, IT service suppliers and telecoms providers coalescing quickly around Smarttech247's alerts and guidance.

Beyond core monitoring, FBD works with Smarttech247 as a broader security partner: penetration testing, threat consulting, and forward planning on how FBD's systems should evolve around security. Smarttech247 also acts as a one-stop shop for additional solutions FBD has adopted over time, including a virtual patching layer for older systems, user access management, and privileged access management, brought to the table by a provider FBD already trusts and who understands the business.

"Most of all, when I get that call out of hours that's a concern, it's real, they are not shy about doing it, they never throw anything over the fence to us. They really holistically look after us, and that is huge."