It was a gorgeous spring morning for our annual meeting of L&P shareholders in Carthage, MO.

Along with sharing exciting developments across the company, CEO Karl Glassman also recognized CFO Matt Flanigan for his service on our Board of Directors and his successful 21 years with L&P. Congratulations, Matt!

Here’s a peek at our morning offsite! Alissa Owsley, Director of L&D, interviewed Mitch Dolloff, COO, to share his thoughts on leading strong teams as part of our Emerging Leader Academy.

Why the football stadium, you ask? Well, we totally ran with the “strong teams” theme!

Big thanks to our Marketing + Creative videography crew for always executing on our crazy ideas.

Thanks for visiting us, Carthage High School students! We certainly enjoyed our morning with you.

We toured the Corporate campus, learned from presentations by several of our employees, and ate large quantities of pizza. Win-win-win.

Recently at our Corporate campus, we hosted several of our employees from around the world during what we call Subject Matter Expert (SME) Week.

Over a series of meetings and discussions, the SMEs shared their perspectives on how to best update our Policies and Procedures manual (more specifically, the Inventory and Financial Reporting sections). Their feedback is invaluable as we work together to make improvements!

These days, virtually any smart device can connect to the internet and exchange data. Although this technological evolution has its benefits, it also brings associated risks – especially for an organization like Leggett & Platt. With such a reliance on data and technology, we have a greater responsibility to remain vigilant against cyber-attacks.

Averted Disaster

In February, Leggett’s Cyber Threat Team was alerted to ransomware attacks on the Leggett network. As they quickly worked to patch the infection, the ransomware spread to the global network and various machinery. The possibility of the attack damaging equipment and interrupting production became increasingly real. Surprisingly, the Cyber Threat Team ultimately traced the initial infection to a factory vending machine.

Many wouldn’t necessarily think of a vending machine as a source for cyber-attacks, but in this case, the infection spread through file sharing technology once connected to Leggett’s internal network. A digital forensic examination revealed that the vending machine had been infected with a WannaCry variant – a worldwide cyber-attack targeting operating systems by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Due to the quick response of the Cyber Threat Team, the threat was resolved before it caused any major disruptions or financial damage, but other companies were not so lucky, as it disrupted operations across the globe with over $4B in financial damage. Consequences like these remind us why robust cybersecurity is vital – even to the most seemingly innocuous of sources. Continue reading →