Data Security
Definition
Data security refers to the ways that data is kept safe from harm, alteration or unauthorized access during gathering, analysis, storage and transmission. Physical security must also be planned for so that sensitive data is kept in a secure location where can only be accessed by qualified personnel. The computer systems that are used to store data should use security measures such as firewalls, virus protection and strong password protection.
Librarians can contribute to data security by safeguarding against these security threats and recommending potential options to researchers that will guarantee the safety of their data.
Further Resources
- Atreya RV, Smith JC, McCoy AB, Malin B, & Miller RA. (2013). Reducing patient re-identification risk for laboratory results within research datasets. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(1), 95–101. doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2012-001026.
- Eschenfelder KR, Johnson A. (2014). Managing the data commons: Controlled sharing of scholarly data. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(9), 1757–1774. doi.org/10.1002/asi.23086.
- Lagoze C, Block WC, Williams J, Abowd J, & Vilhuber L. (2013). Data Management of Confidential Data. International Journal of Digital Curation, 8(1), 265–278. doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v8i1.259
- Stewart C. (2012). Preservation and Access in an Age of E-Science and Electronic Records: Sharing the Problem and Discovering Common Solutions. Journal of Library Administration, 52(3-4):265–78.
- Sweeney L, Crosas M, & Bar-Sinai M. (2015). Sharing Sensitive Data with Confidence: The Datatags System.
- Wilkowska W, Ziefle M. (2012). Privacy and data security in E-health: requirements from the user’s perspective. Health Informatics Journal, 18(3):191–201.