Q&A: How Mastronardi Produce Secures Innovation with CrowdStrike BLOG Featured Now Live: The CrowdStrike 2026 Financial Services Threat Landscape Report May 14, 2026 Falcon AIDR Detects Threats at the Prompt Layer in Kubernetes AI Applications May 13, 2026 May 2026 Patch Tuesday: 30 Critical Vulnerabilities Among 130 CVEs May 12, 2026 Inside CrowdStrike Automated Leads: A Transformative Approach to Threat Detections May 11, 2026 Recent Video Video Highlights the 4 Key Steps to Successful Incident Response Dec 02, 2019 Helping Non-Security Stakeholders Understand ATT&CK in 10 Minutes or Less [VIDEO] Feb 21, 2019 Analyzing Targeted Intrusions Through the ATT&CK Framework Lens [VIDEO] Jan 22, 2019 Qatar’s Commercial Bank Chooses CrowdStrike Falcon®: A Partnership Based on Trust [VIDEO] Aug 20, 2018 Category Agentic SOC How Charlotte AI AgentWorks Fuels Security's Agentic Ecosystem 03/25/26 CrowdStrike Services and Agentic MDR Put the Agentic SOC in Reach 03/24/26 4 Ways Businesses Use CrowdStrike Charlotte AI to Transform Security Operations 03/12/26 Inside the Human-AI Feedback Loop Powering CrowdStrike’s Agentic Security 02/10/26 Cloud & Application Security 05/13/26 CrowdStrike Named a Leader in Frost & Sullivan 2026 Radar for Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms 04/27/26 CrowdStrike Expands Real-Time Cloud Detection and Response to Google Cloud 04/22/26 CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security Delivered 264% ROI Through Unified Cloud Protection Threat Hunting & Intel 05/14/26 CrowdStrike Named a Leader in the First-Ever Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cyberthreat Intelligence Technologies 05/06/26 CrowdStrike Launches Falcon OverWatch for Defender 05/05/26 Tune In: The Future of AI-Powered Vulnerability Discovery 05/01/26 Endpoint Security & XDR 05/11/26 CrowdStrike Falcon Platform Achieves 441% ROI in Three Years 04/21/26 Falcon for IT Supports Windows Secure Boot Certificate Lifecycle Management 04/01/26 Enhanced Network Visibility: A Dive into the Falcon macOS Sensor's New Capabilities 03/11/26 Engineering & Tech EMBER2024: Advancing the Training of Cybersecurity ML Models Against Evasive Malware 09/03/25 Falcon Platform Prevents COOKIE SPIDER’s SHAMOS Delivery on macOS 08/20/25 CrowdStrike’s Approach to Better Machine Learning Evaluation Using Strategic Data Splitting 08/11/25 CrowdStrike Researchers Develop Custom XGBoost Objective to Improve ML Model Release Stability 03/20/25 Executive Viewpoint Frontier AI Is Collapsing the Exploit Window.
Here’s How Defenders Must Respond. 04/20/26 Frontier AI for Defenders: CrowdStrike and OpenAI TAC 04/16/26 Anthropic Claude Mythos Preview: The More Capable AI Becomes, the More Security It Needs 04/06/26 The Architecture of Agentic Defense: Inside the Falcon Platform 01/16/26 From The Front Lines CrowdStrike Technical Risk Assessments Reveal Common Exposure Patterns 05/04/26 Introducing the CrowdStrike Shadow AI Visibility Service CrowdStrike Flex for Services Expands Access to Elite Security Expertise From Scanner to Stealer: Inside the trivy-action Supply Chain Compromise 03/20/26 Next-Gen Identity Security Detecting CVE-2026-20929: Kerberos Authentication Relay via CNAME Abuse 03/31/26 CrowdStrike FalconID Brings Phishing-Resistant MFA to Falcon Next-Gen Identity Security 02/26/26 CrowdStrike Named a Customers’ Choice in 2026 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer for User Authentication 02/12/26 CrowdStrike to Acquire Seraphic to Secure Work in Any Browser 01/13/26 Next-Gen SIEM & Log Management Falcon Next-Gen SIEM Supports Third-Party EDR Tools, Starting with Microsoft Defender 03/23/26 Falcon Next-Gen SIEM Simplifies Onboarding with Sensor-Native Log Collection 03/06/26 Exposing Insider Threats through Data Protection, Identity, and HR Context 02/18/26 How to Scale SOC Automation with Falcon Fusion SOAR 02/11/26 Public Sector CrowdStrike Innovates to Modernize National Security and Protect Critical Systems 03/18/26 Falcon Platform for Government Now Offers Falcon for XIoT to Secure Connected Assets CrowdStrike Achieves FedRAMP® High Authorization 03/19/25 NHS Matures Healthcare Cybersecurity with NCSC’s CAF Assurance Model 03/13/25 Exposure Management 05/12/26 April 2026 Patch Tuesday: Two Zero-Days and Eight Critical Vulnerabilities Among 164 CVEs 04/14/26 How CrowdStrike Is Accelerating Exposure Evaluation as Adversaries Gain Speed 04/05/26 March 2026 Patch Tuesday: Eight Critical Vulnerabilities and Two Publicly Disclosed Among 82 CVEs Patched 03/10/26 Securing AI CrowdStrike Expands ChatGPT Enterprise Integration with Enhanced Audit Logging and Activity Monitoring 04/28/26 New CrowdStrike Innovations Secure AI Agents and Govern Shadow AI Across Endpoints, SaaS, and Cloud Secure Homegrown AI Agents with CrowdStrike Falcon AIDR and NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails 03/19/26 Introducing "AI Unlocked: Decoding Prompt Injection," a New Interactive Challenge Data Security Falcon Data Security Secures Data Wherever It Lives and Moves Falcon Data Protection for Cloud Extends DSPM into Runtime 11/20/25 CrowdStrike Stops GenAI Data Leaks with Unified Data Protection 09/18/25 02/14/25 Start Free Trial Bill Lucas, Senior Director of Cybersecurity at Mastronardi Produce, discusses dark AI, data protection, and tool consolidation February 14, 2025 Mitesh Shah Mastronardi Produce, North America’s largest greenhouse produce distributor, has been at the forefront of sustainable agriculture for over 70 years.
In that time, being a leader in both agriculture and innovation has come with diverse cybersecurity challenges, including protecting sensitive data, securing against vulnerabilities, and reducing shadow IT risks. To address them, Mastronardi turned to the AI-powered CrowdStrike Falcon® platform , deploying CrowdStrike Falcon® Data Protection for sensitive data security, CrowdStrike Falcon® Exposure Management for proactive vulnerability management, and CrowdStrike Falcon® Complete Next-Gen MDR to manage endpoint detection and response.
With these solutions, Mastronardi has built a robust cybersecurity strategy that ensures visibility, control, and proactive protection across its operations with the unified Falcon platform. To learn more about Mastronardi’s cybersecurity journey, download the full case study here . Below, Bill Lucas, Senior Director of Cybersecurity at Mastronardi Produce, shares how his team tackled challenges and secured its innovative operations with CrowdStrike.
Q&A with Bill Lucas Q: Unauthorized use of AI is a growing concern for today’s businesses. How did Falcon Data Protection help address this issue at Mastronardi? A: One of the most surprising discoveries we made with Falcon Data Protection was the sheer number of unauthorized AI tools being used across the organization. We had 13 approved solutions, but Falcon Data Protection revealed multiple unapproved tools being accessed.
These tools created a significant risk of sensitive data being uploaded to potentially risky external systems. With Falcon Data Protection, we were able to baseline normal activity and identify where the risks were. Simulation mode lets us monitor without disrupting operations. Once we had a clear picture, we moved to block unauthorized tools while allowing approved ones. This phased approach made it easier to reduce risk without impacting productivity.
Q: How are you using Falcon Data Protection to identify other kinds of risky behavior? A: Shadow IT is a real challenge, especially when users don’t even realize they’re putting sensitive data at risk. With Falcon Data Protection, we’ve seen examples like employees emailing sensitive files to their personal accounts or using personal cloud drives to store company data. We’ve even seen users uploading proprietary documents to public PDF converters.
The visibility Falcon provides helps us address these risks before they escalate. We can educate users, implement more controls, and ultimately reduce risky behaviors. It’s also been helpful in identifying flight risks. For example, when someone sends out 10 resumes in a month, that’s a sign they might be leaving. The ability to see this activity gives us opportunities to intervene early. Q: Security needs are always evolving.
How have you met those needs with the Falcon platform? A: Before CrowdStrike, we used Rapid7 for vulnerability management, but we found it gave us a false sense of assurance around patching timelines. Falcon Exposure Management was a game changer. It pinpointed recurring vulnerabilities and highlighted gaps we didn’t know we had. With Falcon Exposure Management, we get actionable insights. For example, it tells us exactly which servers and patches to address.
That makes conversations with our infrastructure team much more efficient. And because it runs on the single Falcon agent, we reduced the number of agents in our environment, improving endpoint performance. Q: What benefits have you seen from consolidating your security tools into the Falcon platform? A: Consolidation has been a strategic priority for us. With CrowdStrike, we now manage endpoint, identity, data, and vulnerability protection through one console and one lightweight agent.
This has dramatically reduced complexity and improved efficiency. For example, by deploying exposure management on the Falcon platform, we eliminated the need for a separate vulnerability management agent. Every agent you can eliminate reduces friction for your team and improves performance for your users. Plus, having one source of truth makes it easier to communicate security metrics and progress to executives.
It’s no longer about pulling data from five different tools — everything we need is in one place. Q: What advice do you have for companies looking to mature their security posture? A: My advice is to start with a framework, document your gaps, and create a roadmap. Security is a journey, not a fire drill. CrowdStrike has been instrumental in helping us move from reacting to planning. The unified Falcon platform and seamless integration of tools have allowed us to address challenges in a phased, manageable way.
Also, don’t underestimate the value of visibility. Whether it’s Falcon Data Protection showing where your data is going or Falcon Exposure Management highlighting overlooked vulnerabilities, that clarity is what enables you to take meaningful action. With a plan and the right tools, you’ll find yourself maturing much faster than you thought possible. Additional Resources Read and watch all CrowdStrike customer stories .
Learn more about Falcon Exposure Management . Learn more about Falcon Data Protection . Get a full-featured free trial of CrowdStrike Falcon® Prevent™ and learn how true next-gen AV performs against today’s most sophisticated threats. Related Content Data Protection Day 2026: From Compliance to Resilience Categories CONNECT WITH US FEATURED ARTICLES May 06, 2026 May 05, 2026 SUBSCRIBE Sign up now to receive the latest notifications and updates from CrowdStrike.
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