Judicial Branch of Peru improves efficiency with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Industry: Government
Solution: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES
Benefits: Secure, national communication through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

• Red Hat continues global expansion with first regional offices in Latin America

Institutional information

The Judicial Branch of Peru is an autonomous service-oriented institution whose purpose is to confront the legal challenges of the future with judges committed to the process of change, transformation, and modernization. Their work translates into juridical security and inspires confidence in the judicial system among citizens. The Judicial Branch relies on appropriate technological and administrative support to accomplish its goals. Its mission is “to administer justice through its jurisdictional bodies, pursuant to the Constitution and laws; to guarantee juridical security and jurisdictional protection; and to contribute to the state of law, social peace, and national development.”

To fulfill this mission, it was necessary for the Judicial Branch to create new systems of processing, with adequate infrastructure and up-to-date information systems.

Structure of the system

The Judicial Branch of Peru has a Department of Informatics, headed by Ing. Freddy Aramburu García, that depends on several divisions. They include Systems Development, Technical Support, and Networks and Communication. The Networks and Communication Division is where the Virtual Private Network (VPN) National Connection Project originated. In total, the Department of Informatics and its divisions have a team of over 80 associates.

Introduction

The Judicial Branch shares network services, as well as applications generated by the Department of Informatics, with its different divisions nationwide. To do this, the Branch decided to securely connect the central offices across the nation using a VPN.

Challenges and objectives

One of the largest objectives was to virtually connect 26 Superior Courts of Justice using technological tools that provide a high level of performance and security at a low cost.

Objectives

To offer and share computerized services as applications of the administrative and jurisdictional systems in a centralized database, email, and other shared resources of the network. To ensure security while transmitting data by implementing firewalls and Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS). To reduce the costs of implementation by using open source tools. To provide the judges with trained, service-oriented jurisdictional and administrative support personnel. To establish a decentralized administration with modern management criteria.

Implementation

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES was used in 27 servers throughout the nation for the installation of:

• NIDS: Protection against intrusions and possible attacks by external or internal institutional agents
• VPN: Virtual Private Network
• Firewall
• Proxy

Hardware required:

Results and benefits

The results that came from installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES surpassed the expectations anticipated by the Judicial Branch. The installation achieved secure connections and satisfied the requirements of the Department of Informatics, which controls and supervises the network service (Internet access and applications).

In addition, users from the provinces were able to remotely request and obtain penal background documents, a process previously limited to Lima. With the integrated system of national records of rulings, and with the database centralized in the Lima office, the system of District Records of Rulings was installed in the Superior Courts of Justice throughout the nation, cutting the time of issuance from 30 days to 2 hours.

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