Bradford Networks for Healthcare
Network Access Control (NAC), BYOD

The Challenge:

Role-Based Access Secures Patient Data

Healthcare organizations need to protect and restrict access to sensitive patient data, research, and other highly confidential material to only those authorized to view it.

However, the growing number and types of mobile devices used by doctors, nurses, clinicians, specialists, and other medical professionals as well as visitors and guests makes the task of securing the network, and access to data, extremely challenging. Furthermore, most hospital facilities now use IP based devices, such as heart monitoring, imaging, and other diagnostics equipment, for patient care. These devices are frequently moved throughout the facility and may be connected to the network either via wireless LANs or wired Ethernet.

Healthcare organizations need a flexible solution that can centrally manage and control all these devices whether connected to the network by wire or wirelessly and enable comprehensive polices that take into consideration the user, the device, the location and the time of day.

The Solution:

Network Sentry

In healthcare environments, Network Sentry ensures the integrity of the network, enforces policies to control access to electronic medical records and other sensitive data, and provides and audit trail of network access to ensure compliance.

Network Sentry identifies and assesses the risk of every user and device connecting to the network before access is granted, helping to avoid potential breaches to patient confidentiality. It leverages attributes such as the user’s role, device type, connection point (wired, wireless, VPN), and time-of-day to make automated decisions about the appropriate level of network access that should be granted to that user and device, from full, limited to none.

Many healthcare organizations leverage Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. The presence of MDM on the device ensures that the device can be wiped if lost or stolen, that the screen locks automatically after a certain idle time, and that the device is running encryption software – all valuable controls for healthcare and for minimizing risk. Network Sentry, works in conjunction with MDM solutions to validate that the device has MDM installed and running before it is allowed access to the network and any sensitive information.

Expensive medical equipment is often transported from building to building and floor to floor. Knowing where this equipment is and retrieving it fast can make a significant difference to the patient treatment. Network Sentry knows every device type on the network and its location based on the connection point, enabling you to retrieve this equipment from anywhere across the facility, in the fastest possible time.

HIPAA compliance mandates healthcare organizations know and control the users and devices connecting to their network. Network Sentry provides the policy enforcement and audit trail to demonstrate compliance with HIPAA requirements. The risk of every user/device is assessed before network access is granted and the connect and disconnect times are logged for every network connection.