How a Healthcare Provider Relies on RackTop for Active Defense, Real-Time Auditing of Sensitive Department Data

Florida-Based Healthcare Organization Leverages BrickStor SP to Safeguard Unstructured Data Assets from Cybercrime and Accidental Loss

Key Risk Factors

  • Vulnerable to Damages from Cyber Threats Without the Ability to Automatically Detect and Stop Ransomware Attacks in Real Time
  • Challenged by Complex User Behavior Auditing Requirements with User Behavior Insights
0

Average cost per data breach for U.S. healthcare enterprises

About the Company

Based in Florida, the organization is a leader in palliative and hospice care programs and has served more than 200,000 adults and children. The organization improves quality of life for patients and their families by providing services at home, in long-term care and assisted living facilities, in hospitals, and in inpatient care facilities.

Overview

It’s no secret that the rate of data-driven cyberattacks on healthcare organizations is on the rise. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), cyberattacks targeting the healthcare sector have accelerated by nearly 50% since 2020. Meanwhile, the IBM and Ponemon Institute 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that data breaches cost U.S. healthcare enterprises an average of $10.1 million per incident last year alone.

Our client, an innovative national leader in palliative and hospice care, was increasingly aware of this reality when it enlisted the help of RackTop Systems to safeguard its unstructured data from compromise, theft, loss, and exploitation. From the personally identifiable information of patients to confidential documents regarding corporate finances, partnerships and business analysis, the company regularly manages a myriad of sensitive data files that are considered high-value targets for cybercrimes like ransomware and digital extortion. After moving away from Windows File Servers, it sought a security provider that could actively defend and restore its unstructured data in the wake of an attack, as well as proactively monitor internal user behavior in real time to prevent accidental file deletion and loss.

“We’ve seen a growing trend where a lot of medical companies similar to ourselves are getting hacked and their data is getting compromised,” said the senior systems administrator. “We felt there was a need to put a solution in place that could confirm our data would be protected if we were in fact compromised and could ensure our data would be clean if we needed to restore it. RackTop was the perfect fit.”

What sold us was having full visibility over every file operation and the ability to run audit-ready reports for compliance. Being able to extract the data, see where it’s going and then get alerts when things were moved or deleted, was critical for us.

Senior Systems Administrator

Process

Following a series of preliminary intake calls with RackTop representatives, the healthcare provider enrolled in the RackTop Jumpstart Training and Enablement Program in May 2022, receiving a free 90-day subscription of the Virtual BrickStor Security Platform (SP), an award-winning cyberstorage solution.

By layering BrickStor SP on top of its existing digital architecture, the organization was able to implement a data-centric Zero Trust framework that leveraged AI-powered monitoring and Transparent Data Movement (TDM) functionality to safeguard 6 terabytes of unstructured IT department data on a secure cloud file server. The integration did not require any network policy changes or additional investments in supplementary security tools or technologies.

“It was a really smooth process from start to finish,” said the senior systems administrator. “The team held our hand throughout the whole process. They were there from the very beginning, walking us through step by step to explain what we needed to do and what product was the best fit for our company. RackTop enables data to be copied into the BrickStor platform without losing existing permissions, so we could move the data files back and forth – making sure everything stayed intact with our permissions so that it didn’t have any impact on users.”

RackTop makes it easy to expand on progress you’ve already made… It layers on top of everything you already have in place.

Senior Systems Administrator

Results

Through the applied adoption of BrickStor SP, our customer could now combine the power of user and entity behavior analysis (UEBA) and security orchestration and automation and response (SOAR) capabilities to efficiently detect and mitigate data threats. The company gained the ability to encrypt its sensitive data files, perform real-time active defense and monitoring, create immutable snapshots enabling agile restoration and recovery, and perform internal audits providing critical visibility into user behavior on a second-by-second basis. In turn, network administrators could effectively identify:

  • What data files were accessed
  • Who accessed them
  • When they were accessed
  • Where they were accessed from
  • Why they were accessed

“What sold us was having full visibility over every file operation and the ability to run audit-ready reports for compliance,” said the senior systems administrator. “Being able to extract the data, see where it’s going and then get alerts when things were moved or deleted, was critical for us. And then of course the data protection component. Those were the two main factors in our decision.”

BrickStor SP also allowed the healthcare provider to archive cold data files, which enabled administrators to create more storage space on its existing Dell/EMC VNX SAN drives. After the exceptional results of the partnership, the customer plans to expand rollout of BrickStor SP to additional departments.

“The solution is effective and simple to use, and the price point is really great, so why not?” said the senior systems administrator. “RackTop makes it easy to expand on the progress you’ve already made. You don’t need to implement policy changes, purchase new drives, conduct reformatting or anything like that. It layers on top of everything you already have.”

50%

Cyberattacks targeting healthcare have accelerated by nearly 50% since 2020

- AAMC

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