Security audit for an Financial Company

The company is one of the most successful financial service providers in the USA , offering financial services and other Insurance services to USA based clients. They have offices at four locations across the USA and have centralized IT operations. The company has considered e-commerce as a major driver for business as well as a way to offer better services to their clients. They have installed dedicated e-commerce infrastructure and deployed several applications to cater to their business needs.

Our challenge was to architect client's network Infrastructure to ensure secure business transactions on the Internet and Intranet. The scope of the project included review of the network infrastructure, network level vulnerabilities, system level vulnerabilities, application level (Web Servers) vulnerabilities, incident handling and change management. Exuberant had to recommend the necessary changes on network infrastructure and had to provide a roadmap considering certificate management and disaster recovery requirements.

Exuberant carried out security audit on various extranet applications deployment, which included authentication, authorization and password controls. We deployed network infrastructure and conducted security audit, which included Nokia IP440 firewalls running Checkpoint FW-1/VPN-1 and Cisco 7200 series routers. Security audit was carried out on Web Server and Application Server operating systems like Solaris and Windows NT and on Web servers like iPlanet and IIS Web Servers.

• Assessment of critical system and network vulnerabilities.
• Recommendations on fixing the vulnerability of different operating systems and network equipments.
• Sharing of best practices across operating systems and network infrastructure.
• Suggestions for improving the current security policy with respect to the areas audited.
  

Healthcare regulatory

Exuberant has provided a broad spectrum of healthcare consulting services focusing on regulatory compliance in the payer and provider markets. Health Care Company engaged Exuberant Expertise in its efforts to comply with the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The Challenge

Health Care Company across States, a for-profit mutual insurance company, offers its clients the largest network of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers available in the state. With more than 1,000 employees, advanced technology, and a strong commitment to excellent service, the company processes approximately 5 Million healthcare claims and pays out more than $50 million in medical expenses each year.

Under the HIPAA, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to promulgate regulations necessary to achieve several goals of administrative simplification within the healthcare industry. The goals include developing electronic standards for healthcare transactions, ensuring the security of healthcare data and systems, and protecting the privacy of personal health information. In light of these developments, Health Care Company recognized the need for assistance to achieve its goals of regulatory compliance, understanding and interpreting HIPAA regulations, and educating the entire organization on HIPAA and its impact. Exuberant noted expertise in healthcare consulting coupled with its understanding of the new HIPAA regulation and its effect on healthcare organizations, was precisely the medicine the insurer was looking for.

The Strategy

Exuberant mandate was to conduct a HIPAA impact assessment and gap analysis that would take into account the insurer's applications, systems, vendors, and partners. Prior to the assessment, Exuberant developed and conducted multiple educational programs for company executives and senior management. Exuberant put together an impressive consulting team that included experts in claims processing, transaction and codes sets, national identifiers, security, privacy, and technical training. In their analysis, the team would examine the cost of resources, opportunities, risks, and other significant budgetary impacts.

Technology: Consulting Assignment

The Results

Exuberant conducted a gap analysis and developed an impact report for the business areas of the company. Business areas examined included claims (medical, pharmacy); corporate accounts administration, including re-insurance, membership, and billing; customer service; marketing, underwriting; utilization management (case management), provider contracting; provider credentialing; security administration policies and procedures and infrastructure components and compliance. A similar gap analysis was provided for the company's hardware and software.