MultiCare Health System Wins 2026 CSO Award for 'From Department of No to Culture of Yes' Microsegmentation Initiative

Recognized for an identity-based microsegmentation project across 13 hospitals, 350+ urgent care and outpatient clinics, with 99% device discovery in minutes and zero downtime to patient care. Third Elisity customer to win a CSO Award since 2023.

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Elisity, the identity-based microsegmentation company, today announced that customer MultiCare Health System has been named a 2026 CSO Award winner by Foundry's CSO. Jason Elrod, MultiCare's Chief Information Security Officer, accepted the award for 'From 'Department of No' to 'Culture of Yes': Enabling Modern Healthcare Through Identity-Based Microsegmentation' – a 2025-2026 initiative that secured more than 40,000 connected devices across 13 hospitals and 350+ urgent care and outpatient clinics without disrupting clinical operations. MultiCare joins 64 other organizations recognized this year and will be honored at the CSO Cybersecurity Awards & Conference, May 11–13, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee.

MultiCare is the largest not-for-profit, locally owned health system in Washington State, protecting 13 hospitals, 350+ urgent care and outpatient clinics, more than 28,000 employees, and several million patients across a heterogeneous Cisco, Juniper, and Aruba network inherited through mergers and acquisitions. Traditional VLAN, NAC, and firewall-based segmentation would require network re-architecture, 6 to 14 additional FTEs, and roughly 300 hours per site, an operationally and financially untenable path for a system serving millions of patients. Identity-based microsegmentation took a different route: existing switches became enforcement points, eliminating new hardware, agents on FDA-regulated medical devices, and network redesign.

MultiCare's team discovered and classified 99% of devices within minutes during the initial proof of value, without a single disruption to clinical operations. Production deployment began March 2025 and reached 80% of supported sites by year-end, run by 2 FTEs against an industry benchmark of up to 14. Integration with Claroty, CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, and ServiceNow extended identity context across the security stack.

"Elisity works, does what it says it can do," said Jason Elrod, Chief Information Security Officer at MultiCare Health System. "Elisity gives us the ability to microsegment in a way that's operationally sustainable and doesn't add a ton of overhead — and in healthcare, where you simply can't afford downtime, that's critical. I think what Elisity really does is help us build that bridge from where we have been to where we need to go."

The CSO Awards recognize organizations for security projects and initiatives that deliver outstanding business value and thought leadership. MultiCare's win continues an Elisity customer streak of three consecutive years of CSO recognition, following GSK's 2023 CSO50 Award for cybersecurity innovation and Main Line Health's 2024 CSO Award for cybersecurity excellence.

"This year's award winners show how security teams have repositioned themselves as strategic business enablers," said Beth Kormanik, Content Director of the CSO Cybersecurity Awards & Conference. "They tackle business challenges by leveraging new technology and ideas and delivering detailed planning and strong execution. Their organizations are stronger for these efforts that protect revenue continuity, improve resilience, and strengthen compliance."

An Elisity-commissioned Omdia survey of 352 U.S. cybersecurity decision-makers found 90% of organizations are still falling behind on microsegmentation despite near-universal demand. Programs like MultiCare's are showing how to close the gap.

"Healthcare CISOs don't have years to wait, and they can't afford to take a hospital offline to test a security control," said James Winebrenner, CEO of Elisity. "Jason and his team at MultiCare picked the project that gives security leaders the fastest path to real risk reduction without disruption, and the result speaks for itself. That's why programs running on identity-based microsegmentation keep winning CSO Awards three years running."

Learn more about Elisity's identity-based microsegmentation for healthcare.

Register for 99% Plan It, 9% Have It: A CISO Playbook for Closing the Microsegmentation Gap, an upcoming webinar where Jason Elrod will share MultiCare's deployment experience and unpack the Omdia survey findings.

About Elisity

Elisity is an identity-based microsegmentation company that helps enterprises stop lateral movement, prevent ransomware spread, and meet compliance and cyber insurance requirements across IT, OT, and IoT environments. The Elisity platform discovers every device on an organization's network, enforces least-privilege access policies through existing network infrastructure, and delivers full microsegmentation in weeks—without agents, additional hardware, or network re-architecture. Elisity is trusted by Fortune 500 healthcare systems, global manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies including GSK, Main Line Health, Shaw Industries, and St. Luke's University Health Network. Founded in 2019, Elisity is headquartered in San Jose, California. Learn more at elisity.com.

About CSO Awards

The CSO Awards recognize organizations for security projects and initiatives demonstrating outstanding business value and thought leadership. The CSO Hall of Fame honors leaders who have significantly contributed to advancing information risk management and security.

About CSO

CSO serves enterprise security decision-makers and users with the critical information they need to stay ahead of evolving threats and defend against criminal cyberattacks.

About Foundry

Foundry, an IDG, Inc. company, is a global tech media and marketing services company that produces premium content, data, and events for technology buyers and decision-makers worldwide. Foundry's portfolio of brands includes CIO, CSO, Computerworld, InfoWorld, Network World, PCWorld, and Macworld. For more information, visit www.foundryco.com.

Media Contact

Danielle Ostrovsky
Hi-Touch PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Elisity