Case Study: AZ Vesalius achieves unified cybersecurity and protects patient data with Palo Alto Networks

Caring for cybersecurity at one of Belgium’s leading hospitals

AZ Vesalius is a multidisciplinary hospital in Tongeren, Belgium (326 beds, ~800 staff) that was struggling with fragmented, outmoded security. Siloed platforms, limited visibility, and thousands of unprotected IoMT/IoT devices exposed patient data and left the organization vulnerable to ransomware, business‑email compromise and other attacks while consuming significant staff time for manual log review.

By deploying Palo Alto Networks’ ML‑powered NGFWs, Cloud‑Delivered Security Services (including IoT Security) and Cortex XDR/XSOAR, Vesalius gained unified visibility, segmented its network with VLANs, and discovered all ~3,000 devices within 24 hours. The integrated solution prevented known and unknown threats, cut security alerts by about 50% (freeing hours of daily manual work), improved uptime and patient-data protection, and moved the hospital closer to NIST/ISO 27001 compliance.

AZ Vesalius

Peter Laenen

Board and ICT Director