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Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Case Study
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Database Security
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Human Resources
Use Cases
- Cybersecurity
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Cybersecurity Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (C&W) in southwest London is a 550-bed facility with a range of specialisms from pediatrics to dementia, serving 120,000 outpatients per year and a further 120,000 through the Accident and Emergency Department. Over 60 staff members help Acting Director of IMT, Bill Gordon, to manage the IT infrastructure and all matters relating to patient records, clinical systems, networks, and desktop hardware. Data security has always been a priority, the hospital is currently the highest rated in the UK for IG (Information Governance), which covers the implementation of data safety and management procedures. C&W was already a Forcepoint customer for web and email security as part of a comprehensive infrastructure that includes firewalls, encryption, and intrusion and hacking detection systems. An annual penetration test is run by NCC, a CESG-approved third party. Gordon says that C&W generally performs very well, encouraging confidence in the technology to steer behavior in the right direction. Nevertheless, the impetus for change was a security breach – the loss of a USB key – which had to be reported to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). The incident had board-level visibility within the hospital that required an immediate response.
About The Customer
Opened in 1993, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (C&W) in southwest London is a 550-bed facility with a range of specialisms from pediatrics to dementia, serving 120,000 outpatients per year and a further 120,000 through the Accident and Emergency Department. Over 60 staff members help Acting Director of IMT, Bill Gordon, to manage the IT infrastructure and all matters relating to patient records, clinical systems, networks, and desktop hardware. Data security has always been a priority, the hospital is currently the highest rated in the UK for IG (Information Governance), which covers the implementation of data safety and management procedures.
The Solution
Forcepoint DLP appeared to address the hospital’s problem as it enabled the proactive management of data flows to help protect patients and their records. The initial phase of building the DLP system involved C&W working closely with Forcepoint to assess and learn. From the millions of pieces of data in play at any time, the process discovered which areas demanded careful monitoring and began to outline basic operating rules. The second phase defined the operating procedures more tightly. Every one of the 1.6 million patient records was “fingerprinted” so any movement could be monitored internally or, particularly, if it left the building. However, the security associated with blocking, encryption, and alerts had to be achieved without making the whole solution impracticable. Forcepoint assisted C&W to configure templates given the nature of some medical subject matter that might otherwise be blocked automatically. Finally, around a month was spent on implementation in collaboration with Foursys, a Forcepoint accredited business partner.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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