From Val Verde Regional Medical Center Press Release
By Keith Willey
Over the next six months, Val Verde Regional Medical Center will be in the process of updating their Information Technology equipment and software. “Major IT equipment lasts about ten years,” says Chief Information Officer Keith Willey, “It’s kind of like a car. You reach a point where you just can’t get parts anymore. With IT equipment, you can’t get the critical updates you need to keep your network safe.”
Because VVRMC and its clinics are medical facilities, there is a lot of sensitive, private and protected information. The need for the utmost in security is fairly obvious. Also, the FBI recently issued a warning to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers of imminent cybercrime threats. The advisory cautions healthcare providers to take precautions to protect their information. VVRMC is dedicated to doing what is necessary to prevent this from happening here.
Most of the equipment is for security and protection. Phase 1 will include a DellEMC IDPA (Integrated Data Protection Appliance.) It does exactly what you might think given its name; protects VVRMC information from malware, spyware, etc. The equipment will allow for “pristine back-ups.” These are back-ups of information which are free from malware. They can then be used, if needed, to restore the information needed for VVRMC to function.
The next phase will involve the installation of a DellEMC security vault. This keeps the pristine back-ups isolated from the network. This isolation makes the back-ups safe from hackers and provides greater security.
Phase 3 will be the installation of Palo Alto firewalls with web filtering and VPN (Virtual Private Network) access. A VPN allows you to mask your IP (Internet Protocol) address to keep your actions untraceable and therefore, safe from cybercrime.
The final phase will entail the installation of VXrail. This will optimize infrastructure operations creating a virtual environment for virtual servers.
“These updates are long overdue,” says Willey, “and once they are completed, will protect VVRMC well into the future.”
Pictured left to right are: Rogelio Rodriguez, IT Tech, John Lomas, Network Engineer I, and Donald Breaux, Network Manager
