ERG Group Partners with Forcepoint to Scale with the Rising Tide of Renewable Energy

As Italy’s ERG Group goes global with renewable energy plants across Europe, it’s teaming up with Forcepoint for a flexible, centrally managed cybersecurity solution that’s easy to scale out as new locations come online.

ERG Group began transitioning from petroleum to renewable energy nearly a decade ago. Today, the company is Italy’s largest wind power operator. As ERG expands into solar power in locations all over Europe, it relies on Forcepoint for a flexible, integrated cybersecurity solution that is optimized for fewer than 1,000 employees but scalable for future growth. Renewable energy is on the rise around the world, and nowhere is this growth more promising than in Europe.

The EU is projected to increase the renewable share of its energy mix from about 20% to 34% by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). ERG Group, headquartered in Genoa, Italy, is at the forefront of this movement, harnessing wind, and solar to produce safer, cleaner power.

Founded in 1938 as a petroleum refinery, ERG began exiting the oil business in 2011 and is now fully divested of its refining interests. It operates wind farms and solar plants in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. With fewer than 1,000 employees, ERG is on an aggressive growth path with data being generated and shared across different channels and operational systems. ERG needed a modern approach to data protection that could extend visibility and control everywhere data lives or moves and scale in line with the renewable energy market.
 

To support this growth, ERG must provision a growing number of power plants with secure web access and email. The company turned to Forcepoint Web Security and Email Security to address a major challenge: lost productivity and increased data risk due to spam and phishing attacks. By partnering with Forcepoint, ERG has safeguarded employee internet use and virtually eliminated email-based threats. 

“Forcepoint has been essential for protecting our web traffic and email across the company.”

ERG also deployed Forcepoint’s Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) with Secure SD-WAN across its European sites, reducing the cost and complexity of safely connecting a large
number of locations.

“SD-WAN, which guarantees high network performance thanks to the redundancy of connections, was perfectly suited to our needs.”
 

The result: improved connectivity, reduced telecom costs by 50%, and fast, secure access to cloud applications like Office 365.

Securing Growth at Every Stage: ERG Group’s Evolving Cybersecurity Journey with Forcepoint

As ERG Group continues its expansion into new geographies— including the United States—its cybersecurity strategy has matured to meet the demands of a broader, more complex digital landscape. 

“ERG continued to grow by acquiring plants in various countries (in Europe and the US), and this further increased the attack surface,” Danilo Greco, Head of ICT Infrastructure & Services at ERG Group. “The fast implementation of VPN between the various sites and the Cloud Web Gateway (SWG) allowed us to create specific navigation rules for the various servers in a secure way, in a matter of minutes.”

Anticipating Future Threats

With the rapid rise of AI, ERG is proactively adapting its defenses.

“It is no mystery that the strong acceleration of AI solutions—also in a cyber perspective—is the order of the day,” Greco explained.

“Analysis and specific blocking rules between WEB and DLP are the tasks we are working
on in a timely manner.”

ERG is also collaborating with Forcepoint and Claroty to assess and secure operational technology (OT) components across its global energy parks.

Data Security Everywhere

ERG has adopted a layered security approach using Forcepoint’s full suite of tools:

→ Forcepoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) 

Protects sensitive data across endpoints, cloud apps, and networks by identifying and controlling risky behavior with sensitive data. 

“After a long analysis phase, we have set the DLP in block and warning mode for specific categories. This is helping us monitor and avoid uploading company files to Gen AI solutions that are not permitted by company policies.”

→ Forcepoint Remote Browser Isolation (RBI)

Isolates web sessions in the cloud, preventing malicious content from reaching user devices while allowing safe interaction with risky websites. 

“Activating RBI has increased user protection when browsing incorrectly categorized sites, such as newly created domains.”

→ Forcepoint Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)

Combines advanced threat protection, intrusion prevention, and SD-WAN capabilities to secure distributed sites and ensure high availability.

“Implementation of Forcepoint’s firewall in each site has allowed for stable connections by being able to exploit multiple internet connections—fiber, radio bridges, satellite, mobile—guaranteeing high standards of local security by activating IPS and ZTNA, all while forwarding each log to the SIEM for the relevant analyses.”

→ Forcepoint Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

Provides visibility and control over cloud applications, helping ERG manage SaaS applications, enforce data protection policies, and secure collaboration tools.

→ Forcepoint Web Security and Email Security

Protects users from phishing and malware, while also integrating Forcepoint’s industry-leading DLP to enable safe access to the internet and email communications across all locations.

Together, these tools form a cohesive ecosystem that allows ERG to enforce consistent security policies across its global operations—whether on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge. 

A Culture of Continuous Improvement 

ERG’s cybersecurity strategy is not just about technology— it’s about culture and innovation. 

“We’re staying ahead of threats by continuously investing in technology, but also by embedding cybersecurity into our business culture,” said Danilo Greco, Infrastructure & Service Manager at ERG Group.

With Forcepoint as a trusted partner, ERG is shaping a path to more sustainable energy—built on a data security strategy that enables growth, drives innovation, and delivers unified protection every step of the way.