State and Local Government

A state and local government organization uses PKWARE to locate personal data and confidential files, then encrypts, redacts or deletes them according to what each requires. HIPAA is the compliance driver it names, and its cybersecurity concerns run from data tracking through ransomware and phishing. It reports data security increased by 50 to 75 percent following deployment.

Background

This case study of a state and local government is based on a December 2020 survey of PKWARE customers by TechValidate, a third-party research service. The profiled organization asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.

December 2020, TechValidate, name withheld, which is standard for a public body describing its security posture. The answers are the organization’s own, so the list of concerns reflects what it was actually working on at the time rather than a general account of the threat landscape.

Challenges

The cybersecurity needs that most influenced their decision to use PKWARE solutions:

• Data Tracking
• Unauthorized file sharing or theft
• Viruses / spyware
• Ransomware
• Phishing / impersonation

The compliance measures that most influenced their decision to use PKWARE solutions:

• HIPAA

Deletion is the entry that distinguishes this list. Encryption and redaction retain data while limiting who can read it, whereas deletion removes it, and for a government organization holding records under retention schedules that is frequently the correct remediation rather than the last resort. Data that no longer needs to exist is the cheapest kind to protect and the only kind that cannot be breached.

Our Approach

PKWARE helped this customer improve both the efficiency of a business process and protection of critical information.

Download PDF

With PKWARE’s data security technology, I have confidence that we are meeting our data compliance goals.

Use Cases

The following data types are protected with PKWARE:

• Personal data (SSNs, race, religion, minors, etc.)
• Confidential files

Data uncovered by PKWARE’s data discovery is protected with:

• Encryption
• Redaction
• Deletion

Data tracking heads the list of needs and the ordering is not accidental. Public bodies accumulate records across decades, departments and successive system migrations, so the estate contains material that nobody currently working there put in place. Ransomware and phishing make that backlog urgent rather than merely untidy, because an attacker reaching an unmapped share finds whatever happens to have been left in it.

Results

The organization experienced these immediate benefits following the deployment of PKWARE:

• Improved the efficiency of a business process
• Improved protection of critical information
• Increased their data security by 50–75% since implementing PKWARE technology
• Saved up to 25% of time by moving from manually applied protection to PKWARE’s automated discovery and protection solution

Improving the efficiency of a business process is listed beside improved protection, and in this setting the two are usually the same change. Manual review is what slows a records process down, so automating discovery returns time to the process while raising the standard applied to it, rather than trading one against the other.

HIPAA as the named driver is a reminder of how much health information sits outside hospitals. State and local bodies administer benefits, public health programmes and employee plans, all of which generate protected health information held under the same rules that apply to a provider, and usually without a dedicated compliance function to match.