CUSTOMER CASE STUDY HAMMONDCARE

When innovative healthcare
meets innovative cybersecurity – HammondCareuses Sophos to protect
valuable health assets
Regarded as one of Australia’s most innovative health and aged care providers,HammondCare is an independent Christian charity that offers hospital care,
residential care, dementia advisory services, and community support services
across Australia and the United Kingdom.
HammondCare, a not-for-profit healthcare provider since 1932, is passionate
about improving quality of life for people in need, regardless of theircircumstances.

CUSTOMER-AT-A-GLANCE
HammondCare
Industry
Health and aged care
Websitewww.hammond.com.au
Sophos Customer
Since 2002. Sophos MDR
has been used since 2020.

Number of Users
4,400 employees in Australia
1,100 volunteers at
any given time
Caring for 28,000 membersof the community

Sophos Solutions
Sophos Managed Detection
and Response (MDR)
Sophos Intercept X
Sophos Central, Sophos EDR
Sophos Device Encryption
Sophos Phish Threat
Sophos Cloud Optix
Sophos Firewall

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY HAMMONDCARE“Ultimately, we needed something that madecommercial sense as we are not-for-profit.
Sophos delivered a very good value propositionand came out on top in these areas.“Charles Gonzalez , Head of IT Security and Risk

Challenges
Ì A need to ensure proactive protection for its
sensitive data. This required best-in-class,
24/7/365 managed endpoint protection
Ì A requirement for a cybersecurity solutionthat can handle the evolving threat
landscape targeting the healthcare
sector and support a small IT team

Why is cybersecurity
important for healthcareorganisations?
The Australian 2021 OAIC Notifiable Data Breaches
report revealed the healthcare industry to bethe single most breached sector in Australia,
experiencing 19% of all breaches between Januaryand June that year. Given the sensitive natureof information healthcare providers collect andstore, they are regularly targeted by threat actors
and require best-in-class cybersecurity solutions
to defend their infrastructure against the mostcomprehensive threats.
In this ever-evolving landscape, the team at
HammondCare is committed to staying vigilant
and protecting sensitive data from breaches.
However, as a not-for-profit organisation, the teamhas limited resources for in-house cybersecurity,and so went in search of a managed solution thatwould provide industry-leading endpoint protection
tailored to the organisation’s needs. Sophos
provided an effective solution.
HammondCare Head of IT Security and Risk Charles
Gonzalez said the organisation needed a strategic
partnership with an effective suite of tools.
“Response times are key, so we required a safe pairof hands that could help us respond to threats inreal time. The ability to quickly roll out with little
disruption was important as well as support from astrong local team,” Mr Gonzalez said.
“Ultimately, we needed something that madecommercial sense as we are not-for-profit. Sophos
delivered a very good value proposition and cameout on top in these areas.”

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY HAMMONDCARE“Sophos’ MDR solution has saved us at least
once in the past year from a nasty malware
incident that could have turned into a fullblown ransomware attack very quickly.“Charles Gonzalez , Head of IT Security and Risk

Cyber-attacks are continually evolving, andaggressors have an array of tools readily available toenable them to strike organisations from multiple
angles. This creates an ongoing game of cat andmouse between adversaries and security teams,
requiring constant vigilance. To stay in front of thethreats, HammondCare relies on Sophos’ managed
detection and response solution, Sophos MDR, tomonitor and shut down threats in real time.

How do you secure valuable
data from potential disaster?
It’s crucial for healthcare providers to have rigorouslevels of control and governance over their patients’sensitive data, and for real-time, managed security
to provide constant vigilance over their systems.
“Patient data is king on the dark web, and highly
sought after,” Mr Gonzalez said.
Sophos’ State of Ransomware 2021 report statesthat 34% of healthcare organisations were hit byransomware last year. HammondCare is acutely
aware of the threat these types of attacks pose, as
well as the increasingly complex and sophisticatedmethods being utilised.

Mr Gonzalez said this vulnerability was why
HammondCare relies on Sophos Managed
Detection and Response (MDR). Sophos MDR acts
as an extension of the IT team, mitigating risk ofattack by monitoring their systems in real time,
proactively identifying and isolating threats.
“Sophos’ MDR solution has saved us at least oncein the past year from a nasty malware incident that
could have turned into a full-blown ransomware
attack very quickly,” he said.
“There’s clear evidence to show where Sophos’solution prohibited malware from spreading,
stopping what could have been a serious event if wedidn’t have this software acting in real time.”
Real-time threat hunting is key to staying aheadof breaches, which have the potential to cause
massive harm to patients and millions of dollars infinancial damage to the organisation.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY HAMMONDCARE“This attack could have brought down practicallyall systems on our premises and encrypted backups, which we’ve seen happen to other aged careproviders most recently this year,” Mr Gonzalez said.
He said the threats landscape is significant andconstantly evolving with the potential to leavecyber-attack victims with loss of sensitive data,
expensive repairs, and damage to reputation. It’s
therefore crucial that HammondCare has a security
system in place that it can rely on.
“Sophos MDR pays for itself in spades. If it stops one
major incident a year, it’s paid for itself ten times
over, if not more,” he said.

What benefits has
HammondCare seen since
implementing Sophos’ MDR
solution?
The healthcare industry landscape continues toface evolving breaches and attacks. Attackers areopportunistic and constantly tailor new ways toinfiltrate systems. It’s crucial for the industry not tobecome complacent or undertake “set and forget”
security measures. Operating environments need
to be constantly monitored and finetuned to stayahead of attackers. Sophos MDR regularly evolves,
with new features like machine learning to enhanceprotection.

“Sophos MDR pays
for itself in spades.
If it stops one
major incident a
year, it’s paid for
itself ten times
over, if not more.“Charles Gonzalez , Head of IT Security and Risk

Mr Gonzalez said Sophos hosts monthly
governance meetings with HammondCare to better
understand its needs and provides regular updates
and resources. Sophos contributes like it is part of
the HammondCare team.
“We now have an extension of our existing security
practice without needing to build our own in-housecapability and know we can trust Sophos MDR tomonitor our endpoint protection 24/7,” he said.

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2023-02-09 CCS-EN (NP)