Mastronardi Produce reduces data risk and gains peace of mind

Mastronardi Produce is a fourth-generation, family-owned company and a major grower and distributor of fresh produce in North America, pioneering commercial greenhouse growing since the 1940s under brands including SUNSET, Backyard Farms, Wild Wonders, Flavor Bombs, Queen of Greens, and Wow Berries. As CISO, Bill Lucas has spent his cybersecurity career maturing the company's security capabilities — from foundational vulnerability management and IoT security to data security posture management.

With the rapid growth of AI, knowing where sensitive data resides and preventing it from moving into the wrong applications became increasingly important. Mastronardi Produce turned to Varonis as a critical tool to reduce data exposure, monitor abnormal behavior, and add expert coverage focused on its data and identities.

With the insurgence of AI, everyone's getting a little more aware of one question: Where's my sensitive data?

CHALLENGE

Protecting Sensitive Data in a Rapidly Changing AI Landscape

As Mastronardi Produce's security program matured, data security posture management became the next priority — a shift that AI made more urgent. Employees had access to a growing range of AI-powered applications, and traditional controls that simply allowed or blocked individual websites could no longer provide the long-term governance model Lucas needed. His goal was broader than restriction: give the business room to innovate while ensuring sensitive data couldn't move where it didn't belong.

I want to get to a maturity level where I don't care what you're doing, but this sensitive data isn't going to move.

Building Confidence in Managed Detection and Response

Lucas approaches managed security services with caution, shaped by a past experience where a third-party provider failed to escalate serious activity in time. That experience reinforced his belief that an effective partner must understand the customer's environment, care about the outcome, and respond accurately when it matters. As Mastronardi Produce expanded from endpoint security into data security posture management, adding Varonis MDDR was a natural next step.

SOLUTION

Reducing Exposure with Guidance from Varonis

Mastronardi Produce uses Varonis to identify and reduce data exposure while monitoring key identity and privilege events, including account creation, account deletion, and privilege escalation. With guidance from Varonis support, the team was able to act quickly against identified exposure and achieve early wins without a burdensome remediation effort.

Detecting Behavior That Stood Outside the Baseline

Shortly after MDDR was introduced, Mastronardi Produce ran an authorized external penetration test. Varonis detected activity that didn't match the organization's normal baseline and immediately contacted Lucas — and even after he confirmed the activity was authorized, the MDDR team required him to substantiate that claim rather than simply taking his word for it.

For Lucas, that persistence was a positive sign — an attacker could just as easily claim suspicious activity was legitimate, and the team's refusal to simply accept reassurance demonstrated real diligence.

RESULTS

Greater Confidence and Peace of Mind

For Lucas, the value of MDDR isn't about replacing his own visibility or eliminating every alert — it's about knowing another team is watching, and that serious activity is less likely to slip through.

Just knowing that if I miss it, someone's going to see it, and if it is serious, it's not going to be the end of the world. It's a lot more peace of mind.

Mastronardi Produce has already used Varonis to move quickly against exposure, monitor identity changes, and detect activity outside its established baseline — and as the MDDR team continues learning the environment, Lucas expects it to distinguish routine operations from meaningful anomalies with increasing precision.

A Partnership That Brings the Value Back

For Lucas, technology alone wasn't what set Varonis apart — it was a vendor that listens, responds to requests, and helps the customer make the right security decisions.

Varonis has some of the best support out of all the SaaS vendors I work with. Listening to requests, paying attention, and helping us do the right things is ten times more valuable.

That support turned an initially significant investment into visible value. By combining data-focused monitoring, rapid engagement, and hands-on guidance, Varonis is helping Mastronardi Produce reduce risk today while building a stronger foundation for its evolving AI and data security strategy.