Management of data received by the Databank of the CERS and conditions of access for researchers
Access for researchers
Data stored in the Databank are made available to a third person in accordance with instructions of primary data owners. Data and access are not provided for users other than those specified by the data owner.
Access is granted for research and scientific purposes to researchers of OTKA/NKFI (National Research, Development and Innovation Office) accredited research facilities, regardless of where they work. We do not conclude a contract with the employers of researchers and do not grant unlimited access to them.
Researchers are entitled to perform calculations using the channel provided for them and also to link aggregate (e.g. municipal) level data to the data stored. They are responsible for complying with data protection rules and sign a declaration thereof. Researchers’ folders are not accessible to other researchers.
Databank staff have unlimited access to the servers but are not entitled to managing data of individual researchers, using them for research purposes or providing them to third parties. In the case of breaching these regulations, they may be subject to penalties under employment law.
Technical security
We have servers that guarantee uninterrupted operation. Data purification and econometric estimations are performed on separate servers, which we connect to using virtual client software. In this way the programs needed for research are run on a server located in the Databank instead of researchers computers, who will only see the image of the program running. This allows uninterrupted work and at the same time ensures that researchers do not have direct access to data.
Data stored on the server can only be used with software running on the server and the resulting files can only be saved by researchers in their folders on the server. They cannot extract data from the server.
Connection is established through an encrypted channel (using a VPN connection) and we use personalized certificates instead of passwords. This allows all transmissions to be encrypted between users and the server and ensures that only users possessing the certificate issued by the Databank can connect to the server. Therefore the system is protected against the usual password-hacking attacks and the connections established are traceable.
Safe data management
All servers are protected by hardware firewalls and additional software firewalls, thus unauthorized access is prevented.
Data integrity
Central data management also guarantees the integrity of data. To this end, incremental backup is done every day saving data on an external tape robotic backup device, which enables restoring data after data loss due to external influence or user negligence.
If requested by primary data owners, data are not saved on tape, which further reduces the risks of unauthorized access but increases the risks of data loss.