Wahiawa General Hospital Boosts Security with an Upgraded Wireless Environment
Benefits
- A more secure environment that’s prepared to weather the storm of cyber attacks that hospitals face every day.
- An enhanced authentication and authorization policy with role-specific access.
- A consolidated wireless network, providing increased wireless performance, better airtime capabilities, and an improved productivity and workflow experience for end users.
Wahiawa General Hospital is a community-owned, non-profit hospital in Wahiawa, Hawaii. It is an organization dedicated to providing the highest quality of care possible to each and every patient, in a safe, caring, and compassionate environment. WGH’s mission is to bring the finest technology and personal care to the communities it serves.
Objective
Wahiawa General Hospital needed to upgrade its wireless environment to support growth and enhance security.
Solution at a Glance
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco Meraki
Arraya really came through by understanding the vision we had for this project and working closely with the team to make it a reality.
– Todd Capriotti, CIO, Whaiawa General HospitalChallenge
Today, technology has become synonymous with medical care. At Wahiawa General Hospital, the team found that their wireless environment was no longer supporting their needs.
As a hospital that strives to provide exceptional care to each one of its patients, WGH engaged Arraya Solutions for assistance in upgrading its wireless environment to a cloud-based solution with enhanced security.
WGH had grown organically in recent years and its third-party wireless environment was no longer suitable for its size. With weak security methods, such as a pre-shared key and low-level encryption mechanisms, the wireless environment needed a security upgrade.
If left unaddressed, WGH faced end of support for its wireless environment and possible compliance issues. While renewing licensing for an outdated solution was an option, WGH chose to invest wisely in a solution that would meet its needs well into the future.
While renewing licensing for an outdated solution was an option, WGH chose to invest wisely in a solution that would meet its needs well into the future.
Solution
Arraya offered a solution that was twofold:
First, Arraya introduced Cisco Identity Services Engine (Cisco ISE). Here, Arraya facilitated a small, two-node Cisco ISE deployment for redundancy and resiliency. Cisco ISE provided WGH with secure 802.1X access. This provided superior security policies to fit their business needs. These security policies were segregated and customized to each individual department of the hospital.
Second, Arraya upgraded WGH’s current wireless environment from Aruba to Meraki. With the newly configured wireless networks utilizing Meraki Cloud access points, these would now be managed through a cloud-based portal. As WGH required separate wireless networks, Arraya configured three. One for doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. One for their IoT devices. And one for patients and guests.
Arraya was able to consolidate WGH’s wireless networks from 10 static SSIDs to 3 dynamic ones, utilizing Cisco ISE.
Cisco ISE provided Wahiawa General Hospital with secure 802.1X access
Results
As hospitals collect highly sensitive patient information, security is a priority. Cisco ISE provided WGH with a more secure environment that’s prepared to weather the storm of cyber attacks that hospitals face every day. With a more secure authentication and authorization policy, each user was given specified access, depending on their role’s needs. This means each user now has the right amount of access and no more.
By consolidating WGH’s wireless network, this design provided an increased wireless performance and better airtime capabilities. In addition, hospital staff can take advantage of new features that enhance their team’s productivity and workflow experience.
Moving forward, WGH will be able to extend their Cisco ISE platform to additional pieces of their IT environment.