Frimley Park Hospital NHS FoundationTrust meets Department of Health mandate on security of removable data with Safend Protector and Safend Encryptor

London, UK, 28th April 2010 – Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey has announced that it has deployed solutions from Safend, a leading provider of endpoint data protection solutions, to prevent the loss of sensitive data through PCs, mobile devices and removable devices such as USB sticks, CDs and DVDs. Safend provides a comprehensive, integrated suite of endpoint security tools including reporting, port control and hard disk and media encryption. These have enabled the Trust to comply with the  Department of Health mandate regarding the protection of removable data, in a short timeframe and with minimal impact to staff, both clinical and administrative. 

The Trust, which employs some 3,500 staff at Frimley Park and across three satellite sites in Aldershot, Farnham and Fleet, required a data protection solution which provided centralised management with minimal support, and management overheads in order to cover systems and devices at these multiple geographical locations. This followed the mandate in September 2008, by NHS chief executive David Nicholson that all removable data at NHS Trusts, including laptops, CDs and USB sticks, be encrypted. To this end, Frimley Park deployed Safend Encryptor and Safend Protector which form part of Safend’s Data Protection Suite.

Safend Encryptor transparently encrypts the Trust’s PCs and laptops so that sensitive data cannot be read by unauthorised users in the case of loss or theft. To minimise the risk of operating system failure, and reduce performance impact, the solution encrypts data files, while avoiding unnecessary encryption of the operating system and program files. The Trust has also deployed Safend Protector which provides centrally enforced removable media encryption for storage devices, external hard drives, CDs and DVDs, as well as comprehensive port and device control. This offers reliable, tamper-proof endpoint monitoring as well as device identification and blocking based on administrator-defined policies. 

Jonathan Spinks, Head of IT for Frimley Park, comments “Maintaining the protection of sensitive information is at the heart of our operations and ensuring that the patients, clinicians and the public at large have absolute confidence in the integrity of data is of paramount importance. Widely-reported data breaches elsewhere have dented public confidence and we have to ensure that we have watertight measures in place to address this. Moreover, the fact that the Government’s Information Commissioner now has the power to fine organisations up to £500,000 if they fail to comply with the latest directives on data security, added further impetus to the search for a robust data protection solution.”

“Finding a set of tools which met all the criteria we required was no small task. Having weighed up the alternative solutions we decided that Safend offered the best fit in terms of manageability and performance. The end result is that we have an endpoint and mobile data security system that is largely invisible to the user, but which provides the IT and Information Governance teams with full assurance that it is meeting its obligations to protect data.”

Mony Bulocinic, Vice President of Sales, EMEA at Safend comments: “Safend is happy to be recognized, again, as a leader in endpoint data protection and leakage prevention. Our easy-to–deploy, easy-to-use single agent which provides port and device control, removable storage and hard disk encryption, and content inspection has been specifically adapted to cover all bases for NHS organizations and we look forward to continuing to serve this sector and others”.

About Safend
Safend is a leading provider of endpoint data protection and leakage prevention software. The Safend Data Protection Suite protects against corporate data loss and theft by providing comprehensive data
encryption, port control, device control and content inspection, ensuring compliance with regulatory data security and privacy standards. Safend's products encrypt internal and external hard drives, removable storage devices and CD/DVDs; provide granular port and device control over all
physical, wireless and removable media devices; and control sensitive data transferred over endpoint and network channels.With more than 2,000 customers worldwide and over 2.5 million licenses sold, Safend’s software is deployed by multinational enterprises, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and small to mid-size companies across the globe.

About Frimley Park NHS Trust
Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust serves 400,000 across the north-east Hampshire, west Surrey and east Berkshire area. In addition to the main hospital site at Frimley, it runs outpatient and diagnostic services from Aldershot, Farnham and Fleet. It has strong links to the community through its 14,000-strong foundation trust members.

Media Contacts
Alicia Mackie / Kirsten Scott
Tel: 01276 486000
e-mail: safend@eclat.co.uk