Bits & bytes
Editor’s note: Information Technology Support and Services offers technology tips in this column. To submit questions or suggestions for topics, contact the IT Service Desk, ext. 1-4000 or ITService@mcg.edu.
Protecting research data
Recent legislation that affects the workplace – the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, to name a few – have the common thread of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.
Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to authorized users. For instance, in research, only those on a protocol should be able to access the data. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness of information resources (ensuring the data can’t be inappropriately changed accidentally or deliberately) and to the verifiability of the source of the information. Data integrity is critical to acquiring accurate results. Availability refers to access; inaccessible information is as bad as none at all. Availability may be affected by technical issues such as a virus or malfunctioning computer/communications device, natural phenomena such as wind or water, and accidental or deliberate human causes.
Much like the automotive industry has made it easier to lock your vehicle with a key fob (remember when you had to push all the lock buttons?), technology can make it easier to protect valuable data. User-friendly encryption technology to protect data on a mobile computer or removable media provides the flexibility to work with a sense of security. Another simple but vital security step is storing data on a network file server that is backed up nightly and has restricted access.
Security efforts to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability revolve around prevention and detection. But these efforts are insufficient without individual vigilance. We must know what to protect, how to protect it and then protect it. The cost to protect is much lower than the cost of a breach.
Contact ITSS Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Information Security Mark Staples with questions or requests for security reviews and instructional sessions in your department. Call ext. 1-1577 or e-mail mstaples@mcg.edu.