Damovo’s Security Quick Check puts the IT infrastructure of hospitals and care homes to the test.
Damovo has developed the Cybersecurity Quick Check to ensure smooth IT operations in hospitals and to protect care homes from the increasing number of cyber attacks. The concept is specifically tailored to the requirements of the healthcare sector and enables healthcare facilities to assess the current state of their IT security and infrastructure. Clinics are increasingly being targeted by virtual attackers – particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, hackers are targeting critical infrastructure to cause as much damage as possible.
‘Hospitals are among the cornerstones of our society due to their outstanding importance for the well-being and protection of the population. This makes it all the more important that their systems and networks – including highly sensitive data such as patient files, but also networked medical devices – are protected from external attackers and function consistently,’ says Karl-Heinz Sänger, Managing Director Central Europe, Damovo.
The quick check is carried out in consultation with the IT managers of the facility and takes only a few days. Depending on the scope of the requirements and the derived optimisation measures, the subsequent implementation of suitable solutions takes one to six months. As a leading ICT service provider, Damovo supports this process. Sänger: ‘The Security Quick Check offers decision-makers in hospitals a systematic introduction to the structural principles of IT security and the digitalisation of internal processes. At the same time, the analysis quickly provides targeted insights.’ The aim is to increase reliability, protect the hospital network and thus ensure patient care with tailored solutions.
Three steps to a secure IT infrastructure
In the first step of the quick check, Damovo experts take a close look at the existing IT landscape with a detailed analysis of the current situation: predefined weak points and the existing communication systems are checked and possible gaps in the infrastructure are uncovered. Damovo acts in accordance with both the requirements of the industry-specific security standard B3S Hospital and general security standards (e.g. the guidelines of the German Federal Office for Information Security). In the second step, Damovo identifies the weak points and works with the hospital management to develop a strategy for achieving the target state. Finally, the experts present possible measures for concrete implementation. To ensure smooth operation and continuous monitoring, Damovo also offers its solutions as managed services.
Sänger: ‘A secure and sustainable IT infrastructure forms the basis for all further digitisation processes in hospitals, be it digital patient files or comprehensive WLAN coverage.’ And he continues: ‘A risk analysis of the hospital IT with our Security Quick Check not only helps to identify and eliminate threats and vulnerabilities in good time, but can also give the hospital a competitive advantage from a business perspective.’ In addition to the possibilities for internal process optimisation, Damovo also offers solutions for a modern IT infrastructure that increase patient comfort, for example, infotainment or the digital exchange of medical data – while taking into account the high security standards.