SDS system access - secure remote access technology

The SDS operates using Virtual Private Network (thin-client) technology, whereby data are available only via a controlled network, preventing outsiders from reading any data transmitted between the Approved/Accredited Researcher's computer and the host network.

The chosen solution is the Citrix™ technology, the de facto standard security technology for remote access employed by banking and military sectors. The Citrix™ technology is based on a thin-client, terminal/host based approach to computing. With this technology, although all applications (SPSS, Stata, etc.) run on a central SDS server at the UK Data Archive, the Approved/Accredited Researcher still interacts with a full MS Windows graphical user interface.

The Approved Researcher logs onto the SDS system remotely via a web browser. All data analysis is carried out on the central secure server, which responds just like a normal desktop PC, with some important exceptions (see below). The researcher is free to return as many times as they wish to their secure remote desktop in order to to conduct all aspects of their research, from sharing interim outputs with other researchers approved/accredited for the same dataset and usage, to drafting publications and creating accompanying graphs and charts.

Use of the Citrix™ technology means that the SDS prevents the researcher from transferring or downloading any data from the secure server to a local computer. Similarly, the Approved/Accredited Researcher cannot use the 'cut and paste' feature in MS Windows to move data from the Citrix™ session into a spreadsheet or document sitting on the local computer. Finally, the user is prevented from printing the data from a local computer. No actual research data travel over the network, except the disclosure-control-approved statistical results/outputs sent from the central server to the remote location by an encrypted email.

The SDS user never has to install any complex software applications on his/her remote computer - the only software required by the Approved/Accredited Researcher is a web browser.

Further security measures

Citrix™ also has very sophisticated auditing tools, so that remote usage can be monitored and sessions terminated should predefined 'suspicious keystrokes' be detected, or if the remote computer is idle for a prolonged period.

For some secure datasets, access may not be from the Approved/Accredited Researcher's own desktop, but from a secure machine located in a secure remote access room. These rooms are the responsibility of the host insitution to maintain to security standards set by the SDS and the data owners. The secure machines are configured at SDS and sold or leased to the host institution. Further information on secure room standards will be available shortly.