Sygate deal leaves security in good health

Enterprise-firewall and endpoint-security firm Sygate has announced a deal with the Northern Ireland health service that will see the company provide a secure corporate network across 100 sites in the region.

Health service trust Homefirst has 5,300 employees using 2,000 PCs and laptops across the 100 sites and the sensitive nature of health service information means security across that network is paramount.

However, according to Pat Black, IT manager at Homefirst, it was important that the security should comply with tight health-service criteria while still supporting flexibility and making vital information readily available to health service staff.

Ian Schenkel, MD of Sygate UK, told silicon.com: "When doctors are plugging in here and plugging in there and plugging in wherever - whether at their surgery, at a clinic, in a hospital, or even at home - they need to be secure."

"When you talk about confidentiality of data, nowhere is that greater than in the healthcare industry where the protection of patient records and sensitive information is paramount," added Schenkel.

But as well as network security, Schenkel said that it is vital to guard against the time-honoured threat of human error.

"If a doctor loses their laptop then we can shut it down at the gateway level," he said. "Even if their log-in details and password are taken, we can limit the window of vulnerability by shutting it down as soon as we know that laptop is missing."

Schenkel could not disclose the value of the deal.