Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital.
IT security and control firm Sophos today announced that
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has
selected Sophos Enterprise Security
and Control to protect its extensive network, which holds all
its sensitive patient data, against threats such as malware,
hackers and data leakage.
The deployment has been rolled out across the Trust's entire
infrastructure, including all 2500 user machines, 132 servers as
well as the web and email gateways, protecting patient and staff
information. Using the
integrated Network Access Control (NAC) feature, Basildon and
Thurrock can easily set and control access policies for staff and
guests to further safeguard its data.
One of the UK's first NHS Foundation Trusts, Basildon and
Thurrock is also an associate teaching hospital providing an
extensive range of acute medical services across its three sites in
South West Essex - Basildon and Orsett Hospitals, and St Andrews
Centre, Billericay. The Trust's main site at Basildon is also home
to The Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC), one of the most modern
centres of its kind in the UK. Using the latest equipment and
technology throughout, including state-of-the-art operating
theatres and cardiac catheter laboratories, the CTC is heavily
reliant upon computer security to protect it from devastating cyber
attacks with the potential to bring the high-tech unit to a
standstill.
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
chose Sophos
Endpoint Security and Control to replace its existing Symantec
solution. With governance and compliance issues at the forefront of
the Government's security strategy, finding a fully comprehensive
solution that would protect all computers against attack was
paramount.
"A well-secured IT network is vital within the NHS," said Antony
Barke, senior technical engineer at Basildon and Thurrock. "We need
to be confident that we are protecting our data and our systems
against all types of threats - be those internal or external.
Sophos wins hands down when it comes to endpoint protection - not
only can we control access granted to guest computers, and monitor
applications run by employees, but we can manage it all remotely
from a central console."
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals has also deployed
three Sophos WS1000 web
appliances to defend its corporate network against modern web
attacks and productivity threats. In addition, two ES4000
email appliances - each able to handle up to 80,000 messages an
hour, with automated security updates and on-demand remote
assistance - constantly protect the Trust's email gateway from
email-borne threats, spam, phishing, and data leakage.
The Trust is also using the integrated NAC and application
control features of Endpoint Security and Control to safeguard
access to sensitive data, as well as running Sophos's anti-virus
protection on its virtual servers.
"Initially, control wasn't part of our criteria, as we were more
concerned about security, but once we tried the Sophos solution we
welcomed the additional control it gave us," remarked Barke.
"Sophos's suite gives the IT team complete control over the Trust's
network - whether this is blocking unauthorized applications, such
as alternative internet browsers, or setting and managing policies
regarding who has access to what data - on top of first-rate
security."
The Trust is already benefitting greatly from reduced
administration time and 24/7 customer support as a result of
deploying Sophos Endpoint Security and Control - a huge advantage
for the IT team with three sites to manage.
"Our previous solution gradually became unusable for us,"
continued Barke. "The Trust's staff - from admin support to the
medical workforce - rely heavily on PCs for their day-to-day
workload, so downtime is just not acceptable. Because Sophos's
solution is fully managed, it can update in idle time meaning it
isn't a drain on precious resource, and the customer support is
just excellent."
"Organizations like Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust have masses of sensitive data stored across
their infrastructures, so ensuring the security of the entire
network can be a daunting responsibility for IT departments," said
Andrew
Bradshaw, vice president of Sophos UK. "With so many public
sector data loss incidents making the news recently, a reputable
security solution that helps IT teams to put robust user policies
in place is key to safeguarding sensitive information and keeping a
reputation intact."
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.