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The Barracuda Web Filter Eliminates Viruses at Pine Belt Mental Healthcare While Providing a Safe Browsing Environment
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Endpoint Security
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Facility Management
Use Cases
- Perimeter Security & Access Control
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
At Pine Belt Mental Healthcare, Internet access is a crucial part of daily operations for the institute. Employees must collaborate with other doctors, conduct research, share patient records, and manage billings. Paul was in need of a web filter solution that could provide a safe and secure internet experience while maintaining the control to apply granular user-based policies. For example, Paul wanted to only grant the Marketing team access to Facebook and Twitter but block these websites to other departments. “Having granular rules that differentiated between users was important in order to optimize productivity. We wanted to continue building out our social media presence, but limit access only to the team that was directly tasked with that responsibility,” Metzger said. Additionally, since there were a number of corporate-owned devices that employees were using offnetwork, Paul needed to extend his filtering policies to users beyond the network perimeter. “Our existing filtering solution gave us no visibility into how these devices were being used once they left the network,” Metzger added. Paul tested SquidGuard, a URL redirector that uses blacklists with the proxy software Squid; but he ran into multiple issues. SquidGuard was not easy to install and managing the rule sets to block certain domains quickly became chaotic as his requirements evolved. Paul needed a solution that was easy-to-use and had granular feature sets. With these specific pain points in mind, Paul began to research various web security solutions that could provide a granular level of security without sacrificing ease of use.
About The Customer
Pine Belt Mental Healthcare provides community-based behavioral health services which empower their patients to pursue an optimal quality of life. With over 500 employees, Pine Belt Mental Healthcare has been serving Mississippi patients for more than 30 years. Paul Metzger is the IT Engineer at Pine Belt; he supports the companies IT infrastructure across multiple sites.
The Solution
Paul soon discovered the Barracuda Web Filter was the perfect solution to all the challenges he was facing on his network. The Barracuda Web Filter’s integration with Microsoft Active Directory provided Paul with the ability to associate policies to specific users and groups. This allowed him to set up distinct policies for various departments. “Being able to allow certain users’ access to Facebook helps us maintain a constructive workflow,” Paul said. The Barracuda Web Filter can apply filtering to both HTTP and HTTPS domains and categories specific to users, IP ranges, LDAP groups, and more. In addition to being able to filter SSL-encrypted traffic, the Barracuda Web Filter also has the capacity to inspect this traffic. With SSL inspection, administrators can fine tune their users’ capability to access web-based applications. This tool allows the IT department to define what they believe to be permissible on their network without having to block the entirety of certain web-based applications. For example, administrators have the ability to block certain aspects of Google, allowing their users to have access to Gmail but block Google+ and Google Play. Paul has also found the Barracuda Web Filter’s remote filtering agents to be highly useful in enforcing policies on corporate devices off the network. “We use the remote filtering agents on our company laptops. It was very easy to deploy and eliminated the uncertainty behind what employees were accessing.” Paul proclaimed. The Barracuda Web Filter’s remote filtering agents enabled the IT departments to enforce content security policies on devices outside the network boundary. Finally, the Barracuda Web Filter was incredibly simple to configure and deploy. “The configuration was effortless and making modifications to policies is straightforward. The few times I have needed to chat with technical support, I have never had to wait before speaking with a knowledgeable and courteous professional, which makes me recommend Barracuda products with confidence. The overall product experience I’ve had with the Barracuda Web Filter far exceeds that of any product that I have worked with in the past,” Paul stated.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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