Check Point Provides Simplified and Efficient IT Security Management for AUSL Piacenza

“Thanks to the Check Point solutions and advice offered by Lantech Longwave, the Piacenza Local Health Authority can now benefit from a single tool that manages corporate security both quickly and precisely. We now no longer have to deal with any complexity at the management level.”
– Daniele Tinelli, Head of Digital Telecommunications Technology Area, AUSL Piacenza

Overview

AUSL Piacenza
Providing healthcare to nearly 300,000 citizens, the Piacenza Local Health Authority serves 46 municipalities located in three different districts in Italy. The IT architecture has 2,000 users and supports 30 external services. The computing power of AUSL Piacenza is provided by two data centers located on one campus.

Business Challenge

One single vendor to simplify infrastructure management
In 2017, the Piacenza Local Health Authority were searching for a single vendor that could simplify their infrastructure management, establish strong internal and external security that could be easily managed from a central location, and increase the level of threat prevention, all with state-of-the-art technology.

The local health authority already had an internal security infrastructure (LAN) provided by Check Point based on the 4400 NGTP family gateways, while for VPN connections the company used devices from various other vendors.

New and highly sophisticated cyber threats, however, made the old architecture vulnerable and rethinking the entire defense system became necessary.

Italian system integrator, Lantech Longwave, supported the local health authority in analyzing its architecture according to their new requirements, and provided a demo of a new management interface provided by Check Point that could simplify infrastructure management activities and make them more effective.

Solution

Fewer machines, more security
After a few tests, the local health authority decided to unify the front-end security by replacing devices from different brands with two Check Point 5800 NGTXs with SandBlast Network, providing URL filtering, antivirus, anti-bot and threat emulation capabilities.

The old 4400s were replaced with new Check Point 5400 NGTPs firewalls. The new configuration consists of two pairs of gateways; two devices for the front-end and two for the back-end. These replaced eight machines, extensively simplifying the architecture.

In addition, a single control point was created, and effective, fully customizable reporting was implemented with Check Point SmartEvent, allowing the IT team to manage the environment across multiple devices and locations, all from one central location.

The Check Point Next Generation Security Gateway 5800 and 5400 are two fully-integrated, unified solutions, optimized to offer maximum security against fifth generation threats without compromising performance. In addition, they provide the most advanced threat prevention security for the most demanding, real-time corporate networks.

Results

Completely secure with simplicity
Consolidating the infrastructure, using a single vendor, and implementing a single control point has ensured greater capacity for AUSL Piacenza to monitor and react to threats. The IT team also benefits from simplified management. AUSL Piacenza will also be supported by a five-year maintenance contract with Lantech Longwave.

“Thanks to Check Point solutions and the advice offered by Lantech Longwavewe can now benefit from a single tool able to manage corporate security both quickly and precisely,” said Daniele Tinelli, Head of the Digital Telecommunications Technology Area for AUSL Piacenza, the Piacenza Local Health Authority. “We now no longer have to deal with any complexity at the management level.”

As well as simplifying management of the IT security infrastructure, and in turn freeing up the IT team to focus on other more strategic IT issues, the Check Point SandBlast Network solution also provides a greater level of security. The IT team now has peace of mind knowing that the health authority has maximum protection and prevention from fifth generation threats.