North York General Hospital Implements AppTracker Cyber Risk Engine from Tracker Networks
Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) July 14, 2016 -- North York General Hospital (NYGH) is one of Canada’s leading community academic healthcare institutions. NYGH supports the Greater Toronto Area with 426 acute care beds, a wide range of clinical programs, and one of the busiest Emergency departments in North America.
Tracker Networks is pleased to announce today that NYGH has implemented the AppTracker Risk EngineTM, in order to identify and measure risks to the hospital’s critical “Crown Jewel” data and computer systems.
NYGH, like all major hospitals, has deployed a wide range of health technologies and computer systems to help improve diagnosis, treatment and patient care. At the centre of these technologies is sensitive patient data that has become an enticing target for hackers.
High profile cybersecurity breaches in the U.S. and Canada have led many hospital boards and executives to review and challenge the effectiveness of their Information Technology (IT) risk efforts.
The old model of relying on virtual security walls around organizations no longer works in today’s world of open and connected software programs, and with a new breed of determined and sophisticated hackers that have strong financial incentives and often involve organized crime.
Modern, effective cybersecurity requires a continuously up-to-date picture of a hospital’s Crown Jewel data assets, along with the software systems and interfaces that use them. Unfortunately, this picture often exists only in the minds of a few internal IT experts, making it hard to prioritize and proactively mitigate risks.
Furthermore, there is a growing recognition that cybersecurity is not simply a technical challenge to be carried on the shoulders of the IT team alone. An essential requirement for success in today’s world is to shift to an enterprise risk discussion that involves all stakeholders, including board and leadership teams, by speaking in terms that they can better understand and relate to.
The AppTracker Risk EngineTM creates visual maps of the software applications that use Crown Jewel data, showing how they map to the business and how they connect through interfaces inside and outside the hospital. Information is presented in a way that is easier for managers and executives to interpret and make decisions on.
Hospitals can measure the risk of each application and interface, and use AppTracker’s proprietary roll up analysis to show the overall risk to each hospital activity. Risks can be categorized as operational, to assist in planning for application problems or outages, or for privacy, for easier compliance and to assist in managing internal and external cybersecurity risk. AppTrackerTM is simple to activate and use, provides easy ways to load application information, and updates maps and risk scores as systems evolve.
A proven Fast Start implementation process leverages best practices and health care templates to get the system up and running in as little as a few days, with limited impact to hospital resources or other projects.
“At NYGH we strive to have the highest possible confidence that our technology assets, particularly those containing patient data, remain secure,” said Sumon Acharjee, Chief Information Officer, NYGH. “The Tracker Risk Engine makes it easier to track inventory of all our assets, identify risks in advance, and understand how these risks could adversely affect hospital services and our patients. This helps us prioritize IT plans and better advise our board and other stakeholders.”
“We are delighted to be working with North York General Hospital” said Roger Mahabir, Chief Executive Officer at Tracker Networks. “At Tracker we have a strong commitment to the health sector. It is exciting to work with this dedicated and caring team at NYGH, who put their customers first.”
About North York General Hospital
North York General Hospital (NYGH) is one of Canada's leading community academic hospitals. They provide an exceptional care experience for patients and their families, and have proudly served the diverse communities in North Toronto, and beyond, since 1968. NYGH offers a wide range of acute care, ambulatory and long-term care services at three sites: the General site; the Branson Ambulatory Care Centre; and Seniors' Health Centre. To learn more, visit: http://www.nygh.on.ca.
About Tracker Networks
Tracker Networks Inc. is an innovative and fast growing software company headquartered in Toronto, Canada serving clients and users in 13 countries across North America and Europe. The AppTracker Risk EngineTM allows organizations to track and prudently manage the business risks that arise from computer applications and Crown Jewel data. To learn more, visit http://www.trackernetworks.com
Contacts
For Tracker Networks
Miles Smit
416.807.7648
miles.smit(at)trackernetworks(dot)com
For North York General Hospital
Sumon Acharjee
CIO
sumon.acharjee(at)nygh(dot)on(dot)ca
Miles Smit, Tracker Networks, http://www.trackernetworks.com, +1 4168077648, [email protected]
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