Protecting Our Digital Future: Inside Covia's Cybersecurity Innovation

At Covia, protecting our digital assets and team members plays a vital role in everything we do. From our plant locations to our corporate offices – cybersecurity remains a consistent focus to ensure the safety of our data, systems, and people.

In 2025, Covia continues to innovate our cybersecurity strategies and implement cutting-edge tools to further strengthen our digital defenses. Read on to learn more about our Cybersecurity team's important work, their innovative security measures, and how they're preparing for future challenges.

Cybersecurity Team Highlights: Jonathan Shaper & Charles Ricciardi

Covia's approach to cybersecurity is comprehensive and proactive, led by experts who understand both the technical and human elements of digital security. Our Cybersecurity team ensures Covia's systems and data remain protected while enabling team members to work efficiently and securely.

We want to highlight two key members of our Cybersecurity team who have been instrumental in implementing and managing our security initiatives. Jonathan Shaper, Director of Information Security and Governance, and Charles Ricciardi, Information Technology Security Engineer, are invaluable team members who have played crucial roles in strengthening our cybersecurity posture.

Jonathan joined Covia four years ago and brings 15 years of experience in audit and cybersecurity. As the strategic leader of the department, he oversees the entire cybersecurity program and governance, ensuring Covia stays protected against evolving threats while maintaining an acceptable risk tolerance.

Charles' journey at Covia spans a decade, starting at the service desk and working his way up to his current role as security engineer. He ensures all Covia computers and devices remain up to date with the latest security software, manages critical security tools, and works closely with other teams to make security a top priority across all systems.

Proactive Prevention and Team Empowerment

Protecting an organization from cyber-attacks is a 24/7 effort, and that’s why Jonathan and Charles take great lengths to implement new software and best practices to stay ahead of potential threats.

The team analyzes more than 4 billion log entries each month for potential security risks, which includes all internet traffic, internal traffic, and any other activity tied to a Covia computer. Various controls and protections block a lot of the threats, but the team processes upwards of 40 security tickets daily, working closely with team members across the organization to investigate and resolve anything that remotely seems like a potential threat.

Their philosophy emphasizes quick, decisive action. While some tickets are false positives, everything is taken seriously to prevent a breach – even if it means occasionally having to apologize for being overly cautious.

This preventative approach is combined with active security awareness training and incentives to help team members contribute to Covia’s culture of safety. Ongoing training efforts – such as sending out test phishing emails and offering prizes to employees who report potential risks – have helped others in the organization take ownership over their own cybersecurity experience.

Outsmarting Email Threats Through Innovative Technology

Phishing attacks are the most common form of cybercrime, with an estimated 3.4 billion phishing emails sent each day. In 2024, Covia implemented an innovative tool to detect compromised business emails, transforming the way we protect the organization against sophisticated email threats.

The tool uses machine learning to examine how different users talk and flag suspicious emails that deviate from normal patterns. The system reviews the languages and words used in every incoming email and catches threats that traditional email gateways might miss. Once flagged, the system presents warning banners when something doesn't look right, giving users a chance to think twice before responding.

The success of this initiative reflects Covia's larger strategy of implementing multiple layers of security. Combined with monthly phishing awareness training and strengthened password requirements, Covia successfully decreased our cybersecurity threat resolution time by 60-70% on average.

Embracing AI for Enhanced Protection

The business email compromise tool has already yielded notable results, and it’s one example of how the cybersecurity team leverages innovative technology to fend off threats. As one of the leading proponents of artificial intelligence in the cybersecurity industry, Jonathan actively seeks the latest AI-based tools to see how they can help protect the organization. This search has led to new tools that review user access, automatically identify and block anomalous behaviors, and complete other key tasks.

“We are constantly talking to vendors and making proof-of-concepts on new software and tools that are out there,” Charles said. “Jonathan is always searching for new approaches, asking the team if there's anything that we have a need for or something that's going to help keep us secure.”

The cybersecurity team remains committed to staying ahead of emerging threats. Through continued innovation, employee education, and the implementation of cutting-edge technology, Covia's cybersecurity team works tirelessly to protect our organization's digital assets and enable our team members to work securely and efficiently.

Learn more about Covia’s cybersecurity efforts here.