NHS Secures Portable Data with BlockMaster USB Memory Drives

“We face the constant challenge of keeping our data safe but also ensuring staff can work remotely to increase efficiencies. The security of patient data is of paramount importance to us so we needed a device that could provide complete protection against theft or loss”
-Robert Howorth, Senior Technical Architect, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust

Client: UK's National Health Service

Solution: BlockMaster SafeStick and SafeConsole

Challenge: Assure confidentiality & deliver on-demand access to critical patient records...fast

Benefits:

• Complete control of over 100,000 portable memory drives
• Reduced cost and complexity of device portfolio management
• Ease of use encouraging rapid adoption by non-technical users
• Increased culture of confidentiality across 100 NHS Trusts

With annual costs approaching £100 billion, a constituency of over 60 million people and more than 1.5 million staff, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is, by any measure, a huge organisation. Put into a global context only the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Wal-Mart supermarket chain and Indian Railways directly employ more people.

The NHS' impact on the social and political lives of UK citizens is immense. While it may be a cliché, with such influence comes great responsibility. And nowhere is this more pertinent than in the management of patient data for the UK's entire population. Such protection is not only a legal and regulatory requirement, but a moral imperative.

Data Dilemma
It would be great to be able to simply store this data away behind complex, multi-million pound security systems. To lock it down and deny access. But this, of course, is simply not an option.

In common with every business across the globe, from local retailers to international financial giants, customer data is the lifeblood of any enterprise and must be put to work every single day. For the NHS, this means providing critical patient records to healthcare professionals on-demand, while guaranteeing the highest level of information integrity. No small task indeed.

Mobile Challenge
With such huge numbers of staff, from hospital-based doctors and physiotherapists to mobile paramedics and remote General Practitioners, assuring secure access is critical. This is a well documented challenge and one in which the NHS has spent £millions successfully addressing over the years.

However, the need to mobilise information in line with new working practices and the corresponding proliferation of mobile devices in today's NHS is changing the nature of the challenge. Lost laptops and misplaced USB memory sticks full of sensitive patient data are now very real concerns.

Disappearing Data
The theft of six laptops from the St George's Healthcare NHS Trust containing information on 20,000 patients back in 2008 is a clear example. More recently, in July 2009, a laptop containing the personal and medical details of 2000 urology patients disappeared from a locked office at Broomfield Hospital in the UK. Indeed, over the past two months alone there have been data losses reported in East Cheshire NHS Trust and Imperial College NHS Trust in London.

NHS Take Action

So, in an effort to secure confidential data while delivering fast data access for mobile health professionals, the NHS began an in-depth procurement programme that led to the selection of BlockMaster – and the deployment of 100,000 of its SafeStick USB flash drives right across the Health Service network.

According to Robert Howorth, Senior Technical Architect, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust: "The security of patient data is of paramount importance to us so we needed a device that could provide complete protection against theft or loss. We also wanted the peace of mind that devices could be centrally managed, locking down and wiping data should a device be compromised."

And that is just what they got. Password protected and featuring military grade encryption, SafeStick assures health professionals have complete information integrity on the move. Crucially, the NHS is also using BlockMaster's SafeConsole management tool. This allows hospital administrators to gain complete visibility and control of their SafeStick portfolio – to remotely track, manage and enforce acceptable use policy for every single drive, anywhere in the county.

Flexibility as Standard
The demand for information mobility across the NHS is as varied as its departments. For example, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust is one of over 100 hospitals utilising BlockMaster. Here, SafeStick is being used throughout the hospital, from the administrative centres to the wards. And in this latter scenario SafeStick's robust design allows the stick to be dropped, stepped on or even completely immersed in water – making it a favourite of nurses and doctors on shift. Crucially, its time controlled 'locking' mechanism means patient confidentially is assured – even in the busiest and most public of places.

On the Move
Similarly, the West Midlands Ambulance Service has adopted Blockmaster. According to Tony Carne, Head of ICT at the Service: "12 months ago we were faced with the unacceptable risk of data loss. It was decided that precautions and procedures needed to be taken to combat the problem. We needed a device which could be easily deployed, managed and most importantly, would provide complete protection against loss or theft."

Originally drawn to BlockMaster thanks to its password recovery software and simplicity of the SafeConsole, competition was immediately ruled out after a one-to-one demonstration. "There was no comparison. The speed, ease of use and convenience of the entire package made the decision for us."

Quick and Easy
Ease of use and convenience is critical when encouraging mass adoption of a new technology. "Our users are predominantly non-technical healthcare professionals. Enforcing usage of a complex and slow technology will only ever have one result...a lack of mass adoption. Staff would simply ignore it and continue to use their own personal memory sticks or laptops – both of which lack the protection needed for us to remain secure," says Carne.

Howorth from West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust, agrees: "SafeConsole and SafeSticks are so simple to use, which increases adoption and provides reassurance that data is protected no matter where it is."

Data Control
Because each SafeStick is assigned to a specific user (through SafeConsole), incidence of lost devices are infrequent. A recent study from BlockMaster has shown that linking the device to the user encourages a much greater understanding of security and fosters a sense of increased responsibility. The results are impressive: loss rates for unsecured devices can run at up to 66% while SafeStick loss rates can be as low as 5%.

And there's a 'cost upside' too. By enabling complete lifecycle management, SafeConsole allows sticks to be reset and reassigned, while lost and forgotten passwords can be changed while the devices are 'in the field'. This significantly increases convenience and assures high volumes of devices can be managed simply and cost effectively.

Security as Standard
The powerful SafeStick / SafeConsole combined solution is also encouraging a culture of confidentiality. At the West Midlands Ambulance Service, for example, all other forms of removable storage have been outlawed, irrespective of the content being downloaded.

So whether staff are transferring public presentations or downloaded music files, they are using SafeStick. This exclusive use of the BlockMaster devices not only ensures everything single piece of data is secured, but, thanks to inbuilt malware and anti-virus software, corporate systems are also protected from malicious code as data moves from computer to computer.

A win-win for patients, staff and IT personal across more than 100 NHS hospitals and emergency services.

For further information: www.blockmastersecurity.com