Client story ChromeOS Enhances Data Security for a Healthcare Consulting Company
Learn how the organization ensured top-notch data security for improved device management.
By Insight Editor / 25 Aug 2020 / Topics: Devices Software
Facts at a glance
Client industry:
Healthcare
Size of company:
51–5,000 employees
Challenge:
The company needed to invest in new business laptops able to meet the challenges of cost effectiveness, ease of management and robust security to protect them in the face of increasing healthcare-focused cyberthreats.
Solution:
ChromeOS
Results:
- Improved device security
- Lowered costs
- Enhanced device management
This healthcare consulting company rethought its approach to device security with ChromeOS. Today, the company is reaping the benefits of reduced operational costs, enhanced security and simplified device management.
Today, ensuring optimal healthcare outcomes not only means providing the proper care and treatment patients need. It also means making sure that healthcare is delivered with the help of secure, robust technology solutions that enhance administration and diagnostics, streamline workflows and enhance data security in the face of increasing cyber risks. Among the most pressing digital threats for healthcare organizations is ransomware.
Delivering safer, more cost-effective operations
With a nearly 40-year history of excellence in care, a major healthcare consultancy and management company found itself at a crucial juncture.
Working with over 50 healthcare facilities across the U.S. southeast, including skilled nursing and physical rehabilitation facilities, the organization provides operational consulting, financial analysis, clinical expertise, business office support and technology consulting services. Yet, in the face of increasing security costs and major security challenges — including two ransomware attacks in a 14-month period — the company needed a technology rethink.
The mounting threat of ransomware
It’s hard to ignore the recent increase in the number of hospitals and other healthcare providers being victimized by ransomware. By infecting systems and files, ransomware has rendered hundreds of healthcare organizations effectively powerless, prohibiting access to critical files and data until a ransom is paid. By slowing (or halting) critical processes, countless organizations have been forced to rethink their IT operations during an attack — as well as how to protect against them in the future.
A recent HIPAA Journal report revealed that attacks against healthcare providers increased at an alarming 350% during the last quarter of 2019, continuing into 2020. Attack targets have ranged from hospitals to health systems and IT vendors, disrupting services to patients and resulting in significant financial losses for affected organizations.
Having fallen prey to two such ransomware attacks, the client decided that a new technology approach was needed — one that would ensure optimal security at an affordable cost.
A new way forward
When the company reached out to Insight for help, our team recommended Chromebook Enterprise. Chromebooks are secure by design, providing protection against cyberthreats such as ransomware by deterring end users from falling hostage to harmful attacks and mitigating the impact if one prevails. ChromeOS automatically secures user data with cloud-based backup systems — letting the organization work worry free.
We also suggested Chromebooks due to cost considerations and ease of management. The result was a total device rethink that allowed the organization to transition to a more secure and cost-effective cloud-based solution that’s well-suited to healthcare IT.
Now, the company benefits from stronger technology defenses against malicious attacks, while also enjoying optimized device management, lower costs and other benefits. This enables it to continue its important work as a pillar of the regional healthcare community.
