Client Overview
A world-class cancer treatment and research center, with five state-of-the-art locations across the US, needed a stronger data protection and cyber recovery solution to safeguard sensitive information and ensure business continuity.
“We thank IMPEX for supporting our mission to treat and research cancer, and to provide the most advanced cybersecurity to our staff and patients.”
— Chief Information Officer
Business Challenge
With the increasing frequency of ransomware attacks, which on average cost $1.85 million per incident, the research center recognized that their current data protection strategy was insufficient to handle modern cyber threats. They needed a solution that offered robust protection, ensuring critical research data and patient information remained secure, even in the event of a catastrophic cyberattack.
Solution Implemented
IMPEX Technologies implemented a comprehensive Cyber Recovery Solution designed to safeguard sensitive data from ransomware and insider threats. The solution featured an air-gapped vault that was completely isolated from the production and research environment, ensuring that critical backups could not be accessed or altered by cybercriminals. This vault served as the organization’s last line of defense in the event of a successful ransomware attack.
Key components of the solution included:
- Immutable Backups: Once data was vaulted, it became immutable, meaning it could not be modified, ensuring that the customer always had access to clean, recoverable copies of their most critical datasets. This eliminated the risk of ransomware or malicious insiders corrupting backup data.
- Automated Recovery Workflow: The solution automated the process of pulling data from the production environment into the secure vault. During each transfer, the vault disabled its network access to prevent exposure to potential threats. Once data was transferred, the network was re-enabled, and the vaulted data was validated for integrity.
- Advanced Forensic Analysis: The customer leveraged CyberSense analytics to continuously monitor and scan data for anomalies or signs of potential corruption. Machine learning algorithms provided real-time insights into the integrity of the data, offering early detection of possible ransomware infiltration.
Results Achieved
- Resilient Data Protection: The organization now benefits from fully isolated, immutable backups that ensure critical research and patient data are protected from corruption, deletion, or encryption by ransomware.
- Faster Recovery Time: The organization achieved significant improvements in recovery time, reducing downtime from days to hours, allowing for the rapid restoration of essential systems after a cyberattack.
- Cost Savings: By preventing costly downtime and eliminating the need to pay ransoms, they saved millions in potential financial losses, while also reducing operational overhead with streamlined data protection management.
- Proactive Threat Detection: With advanced forensic capabilities, the organization can now detect potential data corruption early, preventing malware from spreading across the environment.
- Compliance and Regulatory Adherence: The solution ensures compliance with healthcare regulations, helping the organization meet strict security and recovery standards, particularly regarding the protection of sensitive patient data.
- Operational Efficiency: Automating the backup and recovery workflow has freed up IT resources, allowing them to focus on other strategic projects rather than day-to-day data protection management.
- Future-Proof Scalability: The architecture is designed to scale as the organization’s data grows, ensuring the solution remains effective as demands increase.
Conclusion
By implementing the Cyber Recovery Vault solution, the cancer treatment and research center significantly strengthened its cybersecurity posture. The solution not only provided critical data protection against ransomware but also ensured that, in the event of an attack, the organization could quickly recover and maintain its operations without compromising patient care or research integrity.
