Fire district mitigates the risk of ransomware and saves up to $190,000 per year

Netwrix Corporation, provider of a visibility platform for data security and risk mitigation in hybrid environments, announced today that Clackamas Fire District #1 ensures the security of critical IT infrastructure leveraging the complete visibility provided by Netwrix Auditor.

Clackamas Fire District #1, formed in 1976, is one of the largest fire protection districts in Oregon, U.S., serving over 220,000 citizens and covering nearly 235 square miles. The fire district’s IT department faces a variety of challenges. First, the six-person team has to maintain network stability for 500+ employees working at 20 locations so they can respond to incidents quickly. They must also ensure the security and the 24/7 availability of fire records for first responders. And since these records contain PHI and PII, they must maintain compliance with CJIS, ISO, HIPAA and other regulatory standards. To address these challenges efficiently, the IT department needed a solution to monitor the IT environment in a seamless, automated fashion.

The IT department found Netwrix Auditor to be the best solution for analyzing file permissions and monitoring user activity. With the platform, Clackamas Fire District #1 achieved the following results:

• Mitigating the risk of ransomware and other attacks. By uncovering vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure, Netwrix Auditor enabled the fire district to reduce its attack surface for external and internal threats. Moreover, the software alerts the IT team about excessive failed activity, so they can respond immediately to ransomware or a brute-force attack.
• Gaining visibility into file servers. By regularly reviewing high-level overviews of activity on the file servers, the IT department can detect anomalies in a timely manner and prevent critical data from being compromised.
• Validating ongoing compliance. Netwrix Auditor helps the IT team check whether the fire district is meeting CJIS, ISO and HIPAA requirements and complete internal audits with far less time and effort. Now the process takes just 2 days, whereas before it took 3–4 weeks. To achieve the same results without Netwrix Auditor, the fire district estimates it would need at least two full-time employees and spend around $190,000 annually.

Because fires never take days off, it is important for us that Netwrix Auditor works 24/7, ready to assist our fire district any time of the day. The software gives us peace of mind because it provides the visibility necessary for both data security and continuous compliance, and it also saves the district at least $190,000 per year. Netwrix Auditor is definitely a significant piece of our security posture and everyday processes.
Oscar Hicks, IT Director at Clackamas Fire District #1

Uncontrolled activity across the networks of agencies that provide emergency services can disrupt internal operations and hinder first responders from achieving their mission of saving lives. Complete visibility into the IT environment enables organizations to gain control over user activity, which not only facilitates compliance with industry standards, but also helps to secure critical data and systems and prevent disruptions to operations.
Steve Dickson, CEO of Netwrix

To read the complete case study, please visit: www.netwrix.com/go/clackamas_fire_district