The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is a world-leading intitution for cancer treatment. In 2008 alone, the facility cared for nearly one million people, and it supports a faculty and staff of both MDs and PhDs numbering over 20,000. Their IT network is based on a powerful and secure Unix infrastructure, and includes over 500 servers that house confidential patient and financial information.
As with any healthcare institution, MD Anderson was required to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. Among the mandates that needed to be addressed were acces control, root delegation, and auditing capabilities for the massive information network. The company’s primary goal was to place controls back into the hands of system administrators. This is where BeyondTrust software comes in.
BeyondTrust’s PowerBroker for Servers was implemented to protect root accounts from users who might intentionally (or unintentionally) gain access and abuse confidential data. It sits on top of M.D. Anderson’s Unix Servers, and provides security and accountability by enabling systems administrators to delegate administrative privileges without disclosing the root password. In addition to this, it provides extensive auditing and logging features. By appyling PowerBroker for Servers, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center was able to make their IT network secure and compliant.
On a personal note I have to say that I respect MDA imensely as they have helped keep my mom’s leukemia in check for the last 3 years.
If you find your IT environment vulnerable and noncompliant, click here to read about how your network can become secure. You can also read the entire case study here.
