San Antonio, TX – September 6, 2012 – Digital Defense, Inc. (DDI), a leading provider of managed security risk assessment solutions, has worked closely with Austin Travis County Integral Care (ATCIC), a provider of community-based behavioral health and developmental disabilities services, to protect important healthcare information as required by regulations such as Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The challenges, approach and resulting success of ATCIC and DDI’s partnership are outlined in a powerful healthcare security case study that has been developed to inform other healthcare organizations who are addressing the issues of data protection unique in this industry.
ATCIC, like many healthcare organizations, must comply with mounting regulatory mandates. Within these mandates, the need for organizations to protect patient data is called out. In order to support compliance requirements, and more importantly to make sure ATCIC patient data is protected, the agency looked for an information security provider that had a proven track record and could provide a cost-effective solution.
Utilizing Vulnerability Lifecycle Management – Professional (VLM-Pro), DDI’s flagship managed vulnerability assessment scanning service, ATCIC was able to demonstrate a measurable improvement in their security posture in only four months. DDI provides VLM-Pro customers with a Security GPA® -- a numerical ranking that shows organizations how their security rates on a four point scale, similar to academic grade point averages. ATCIC showed a 33% increase during this time period, further mitigating the risk of a potential security breach through heightened security.
ATCIC Chief Executive Officer, David Evans, states, ”The DDI VLM-Pro solution has made a real difference for Austin Travis County Integral Care. The assistance provided by our DDI Personal Security Analyst ensures that our IT teams can focus on those vulnerabilities that present the biggest threat to our critical IT assets. Additionally, Security GPA makes it easy to report on the progress we continue to make in securing our networks and protecting our patient’s healthcare information.”
Larry R. Hurtado, President and CEO of Digital Defense added, “ATCIC approached their information security program in a very smart manner. Recognizing that compliance does not always equal security, they were committed to conducting regular security assessments and addressing vulnerabilities that could potentially compromise their networks. We congratulate ATCIC for their success, reflected in their current Security GPA.”
About ATCIC
Austin Travis County Integral Care provides community-based behavioral health and developmental disabilities services in Travis County, administering an annual budget of $57 million of local, state and federal funding at 44 physical facilities. In the last year, Integral Care served more than 22,000 individuals and families, offering numerous services and programs year-round. www.integralcare.org