NAC+LAN Segmentation

Industry Solutions

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Education

Financial Services

Energy/Utilities

High Technology

Legal

Service Providers

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LAN Security for Healthcare Organizations

The healthcare industry is facing unique challenges when it comes to LAN security. With patient privacy being a high priority, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) places a number of requirements on access controls and in the handling of patient information, with a direct impact on the operation of the LAN and resources and applications conntected to it.

Healthcare organizations must evaluate solutions that will provide them with complete LAN security. The chosen product should be simple to use, manage and deploy. In addition to a product that is scalable and cost-effective, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare organizations should focus on a holistic solution.

Key features of a holistic LAN security solution

• Network Admission Control (NAC) - user authentication and posture validation
• Layer 7 visibility - ties all traffic to user for efficient incident response and reporting
• Identity-based control - role-based provisioning (separate access policies for doctors vs. patients)
• Threat control  - zero-hour worm containment

Key projects ConSentry can help address

• Enable guest/patient Internet access without compromising other hospital LAN resources
• Ensure medical equipment maintenance contractors can access only the appropriate machines and not the entire LAN
• Control network access granted to IP-aware medical devices without requiring a client
• Protect access to patient health records for compliance with HIPAA
• Enable role-based provisioning, so medical staff can share PCs but gain access only to the corporate data appropriate to their role
• Leverage and extend the life of existing network infrastructure (i.e., no switch upgrade to 802.1X) for Network Admission Control (NAC)
• Ensure only compliant devices get on the LAN, with third-party or dissolvable agents for posture check
• Stop worm outbreaks, maintaining network availability and operational continuity

Related Links

Mercy Medical Center Case Study

Bosley Medical selects ConSentry for Identity-based Control

Alliance Imaging selects ConSentry to protect against attacks

"We need more intelligence and control in our networks today, and it makes sense to be able to integrate that additional functionality into the Ethernet switch."

Lawrence Orans
Research Director
Gartner

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