Protecting the
location of a major
utility company
The situation
We all know that angry customers aren’t going anywhere, and there will always be strong opinions on how service is handled. This Fortune 200 electric company was no stranger to customer complaints, but the volume and severity of communication had grown to a level where it would be easy to have one threat slip through the cracks.
As the threatening activity began to steer more towards protests and local group planning, the need to stay ahead of any organized efforts was critical. Keeping the plant location discrete and protected was the key to keeping employees and property safe, and maintaining positive neighborhood sentiments.
The solution
To more effectively cast a wide net and confidently collect and triage all complaints, including threats, the Director of Physical Security turned to Ontic’s Protective Intelligence Platform. Here, he was able to proactively monitor activity on various social channels, and set up filters to monitor posts specific to each of the 10+ electrical plant locations.
When a threatening social media post surfaced in the company’s signal feed with a clear photo of a plant location, the Director of Physical Security knew he had to take action immediately. While not malicious in intent, a vendor promoting services without permission opened up the opportunity for threat actors to easily assemble a plan to protest or take a more violent course of action, putting all employees at the electrical plant location at risk.
The outcome
In just 15 minutes, a security team member viewed the photo within the threatening social media post and contacted the vendor responsible to have it removed. This success highlights the security team’s ability to leverage Ontic’s Platform to:
Protect company assets
While the initial benefit of the platform was to capture customer threats, this threatening post uncovered a new and equally important use case — entity protection.
Easily collaborate with connected workflows
The security lead was able to forward the post and action plan to the social media team within minutes, mitigating the threat while also highlighting the security team’s value.
Demonstrate broader impact with metrics
Report metrics were easily available on signal volume, by topic, and by trends over time. The team could see holistic numbers around social chatter, with the ability to dig into specific areas to investigate further.
