FDA News

More Than 25 Healthcare Organizations Rely on Vernier Networks’ NAC Appliances to Bolster Security and HIPAA Compliance

(April 23, 2007)-- Vernier Networks, supplier of award-winning network access control (NAC) appliances, has recently added more than 25 healthcare organizations to its growing list of customers. These organizations are employing EdgeWall NAC appliances to secure their networks from unauthorized access, costly worms, viruses and other intrusions, and limit access to Electronic Medical Records. Representing hospital networks, medical research facilities and university medical centers, Vernier’s customers include Baptist Healthcare System, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Managed Health Care Associates, and University of Miami Medical Center.

“Concerned about network intrusions and limiting access to sensitive health information, we selected Vernier’s EdgeWall appliance to protect our network,” said Gregory S. Thomas, vice president of IT for Managed Health Care Associates. “As a result, we were able to easily set up and monitor policies and quickly enforce them. The EdgeWall has enabled us to become more proactive and has helped free up critical IT resources to work on other strategic business initiatives.”

Vernier Networks helps healthcare organizations secure their network with capabilities that directly address Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. HIPAA requires strict access control and reporting for:

• Access authorization to health record systems
• Electronic Personal Health Information (ePHI) access in general and with Windows detail
• ePHI access by administrative users

“Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries, especially in the area of patient privacy,” said Simon Khalaf, president and chief executive officer of Vernier Networks. “In addition, hospital networks simply can’t afford to have their networks go down because of costly intrusions – it could be life-threatening. Vernier’s NAC solution allows them to protect their networks from threats and limit access to sensitive data – without disruption, without deploying agents on physician and patient laptops, and without changes to their existing infrastructure.”

Vernier’s EdgeWall line of NAC appliances enables IT administrators to limit access to EMRs and ePHI to authorized users. EdgeWall also allows hospitals to secure wireless access from patient laptops, while blocking intrusions, worms and viruses from these devices without requiring users to make changes to their machines. Using EdgeWall, IT administrators can define granular policies for network access for physicians, nurses, hospital staff, patients and, most importantly, enforce these policies.

Beyond laptops, desktops and other standard endpoints, EdgeWall protects mission-critical devices, such as heart monitors and insulin pumps from intrusions and threats. These FDA-approved devices typically run an embedded general-purpose OS that can’t be easily patched, and are therefore prone to attacks by malware, such as worms and viruses, unless properly protected.

“Vernier builds a protective wall around these life-saving FDA approved devices wherever they are within the campus and completely protects them from attacks,” said Khalaf.

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