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Food & Beverage

Food and beverage manufacturing operates under constant pressure — production schedules are tight, margins are thin, and downtime is measured in lost product, not just lost revenue. Behind every processing line, pasteurisation system, and packaging machine sits a control system that must run reliably around the clock. These are environments where operational continuity is non-negotiable and where a cybersecurity incident can have consequences ranging from production loss to food safety risk and regulatory action.

The challenge is that many food and beverage plants were automated long before cybersecurity was a concern. PLCs controlling batch processes, temperature profiles, and CIP (clean-in-place) sequences were connected for efficiency — not with security in mind. HMI workstations often run legacy Windows operating systems that cannot be patched without risking production stability. Multiple contractors and integrators access the OT environment for maintenance, and there is rarely a clear record of who changed what on which controller.

Why First Watch for Food & Beverage​

First Watch provides food and beverage manufacturers with always-on cybersecurity protection that runs alongside production without interfering with it.

Control room visibility is where the value is most immediately felt. The First Watch Controller provides plant managers with a real-time dashboard showing the cyber health of the entire production environment — which assets are online, what changes have occurred, whether any anomalous activity has been detected, and the overall security posture of the plant. This is particularly valuable for operations teams who need at-a-glance awareness without deep cybersecurity expertise.

Continuous asset monitoring automatically discovers and inventories every device on the OT network. The platform tracks hardware configurations, firmware versions, and software changes across all PLCs, HMIs, and network infrastructure — detecting drift and unauthorised modifications that manual audits would miss.

Endpoint protection through ControlGuard secures HMI workstations and SCADA servers with application whitelisting. This is critical in environments where production machines run Windows 7 or Windows 10 systems that cannot be upgraded due to vendor constraints. ControlGuard ensures only approved applications execute — blocking ransomware, malware, and unauthorised software regardless of patch status.

Third-party contractor controls address the reality that multiple vendors and integrators access the plant's control systems. Every remote session and every engineering change is logged, attributed, and available for review — giving plant management clear accountability over who did what on the production network.

What We Protect​

  • Batch processing systems — recipe controllers, mixing sequences, temperature and pressure regulation
  • Pasteurisation and sterilisation — critical safety interlocks, temperature profiles, hold-time verification
  • CIP systems — clean-in-place sequencing, chemical dosing, flow and temperature control
  • Packaging and palletising lines — line controllers, labelling systems, quality checkpoints
  • Cold chain infrastructure — refrigeration controllers, cold store monitoring, temperature alarm systems
  • SCADA and HMI infrastructure — operator workstations, historian servers, engineering stations

This section contains detailed case studies and deployment examples from the food and beverage sector.