healthAlliance wins prestigious security award

healthAlliance wins prestigious national information security award

The Northern Region district health board (DHB) shared ICT service provider healthAlliance won Best Security Initiative / Project at the 2019 New Zealand Information Security Awards (iSANZ) at Te Papa in Wellington on Tuesday 12 November.

The iSANZ Awards are New Zealand's annual showcase of excellence in information security.

healthAlliance picked up the prize for its Northern Region Secure USB Project.

Chief Information Security Officer Richard Harrison says he and his team are honoured to receive the accolade.

‘Protecting clinicians and patients in the Northern Region and safeguarding their systems and information is our highest priority, so being recognised like this by the industry is fantastic and we couldn’t be more proud,’ Harrison says.

The company’s winning project saw a secure USB device strategy rolled out across the region’s four DHBs: Northland, Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitematā and other several supporting agencies to strengthen data security.

The collaborative project with the region’s DHBs was a complex and challenging assignment, supported by an integrated information campaign for healthcare workers to ensure minimal disruption to their critical work.

healthAlliance was also a finalist in a second award category, Best Security Awareness Campaign, for its Northern Region Cyber Hero initiative.

The win follows the company’s achievements at the 2018 iSANZ Awards where it received a judge’s commendation for its Northern Region Cyber Safety Awareness Campaign.

healthAlliance CEO Myles Ward says winning its first iSANZ award is testament to the increasing focus the Northern Region has dedicated to information security over the past few years:

‘In partnership with the DHBs we’ve put a huge amount of effort into keeping our customers, their patients and their health information safe,’ Ward says.

‘The work we do is designed to help support DHBs to safely deliver healthcare services to our communities within the region and everyone here is committed to that cause. Being acknowledged by our peers in the tech sector makes that work all the more satisfying.’

Judges for this year’s iSANZ Awards included renowned computer scientist Peter Gutmann; Sam Sargeant, Chief Security Officer, Internet NZ; Ryan Ko, Chair & Director, UQ Cyber Security; and Adrian van Hest, National Cyber Practice Lead at PwC.

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