19-20 October 2010 IT Directors’ Group Meeting 1

Item 3.3.g of the agenda

Vision Infrastructure Project on Secure Infrastructure for CONfidential data access (SICON)

Jean-Marc MUSEUX Unit B2 – Methodology and research

19-20 October 2010 IT Directors’ Group Meeting 2

Background

The exchange of confidential data among ESS partners is enabled by Regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics

The access to EU confidential microdata for scientific purposes is enabled by Regulation (EC) No 831/2002. Access need to be improved through providing more and easier access to detailed microdata under safe centre conditions

The Eurostat Vision for the production of Official Statistics in the next decade (Commission Communication 404/2009) is advocating for a better integration of EU statistics production processes aiming at efficiency gains.

19-20 October 2010 IT Directors’ Group Meeting 3

Project 1 : EGR

"EuroGroups Register" (EGR) project aims at offering to both MS and Eurostat access to integrated and up-to-date register data on enterprise groups.

The EGR will consist of a central register kept at Eurostat in combination with "satellites" in each Member State, altogether forming a network of registers.

19-20 October 2010 IT Directors’ Group Meeting 4

Project 2 : Decentralised access to confidential data for scientific purpose Project aims to allow researchers to carry out their

statistical analysis directly on the confidential data on Eurostat servers. It will avoid researchers to travel to Luxembourg.

In a first step, access will be given from MS safe centre environment (recommendation of ESSnet on decentralised access to EU confidential data)

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Common infrastructure to store and provide access to confidential data on Eurostat servers

A common infrastructure enabling– Data viewing– Data processing (statistical analysis, editing, updating, …)– without mitigating on the risk of lose of control on the data

Common remote access faciltty – Data remains on Eurostat secure servers– Users are identified– Access through secured connection

Project owners: Unit B2 and Unit B4

19-20 October 2010 IT Directors’ Group Meeting 6

Project vision

Access to conf. data• The confidential data

can be viewed, processed (calculations executed), consulted, controlled and minor updates (typing data in manually) can be made. Only screens of the virtual desktops at the server are send to the client.

Applications:1. Decentralised access

for scientific purposes

2. Consultation and synchronization of the

EGR

Exchange of conf. data

Data can be flow from and into the secure environment. In combination with step 1 this would make possible: updates and linking of data, viewing and reacting to import, reports, etc.

Applications:1. Maintenance of the

EGR

2. TRIS Final validation

3. All central databases updates by MS

Distributed conf. data

All confidential data stays in the MS. There the country databases are maintained. The various datasets in the MS are connected via a central node at Eurostat.

Applications:1. All central databases

consisting of MS parts

2. Incorporation of Data Archives into the system

VIP

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First elements of the infrastructure for step 1

A secured network environment (INTSEC) hosted on Eurostat servers separated out from production enviroment (FULSEC)

CITRIX solutions for managing/configuring secured access

Drawing on cooperate solutions available at Commission level (DIGIT - RACHEL)

A set of applications and tools to be hosted and operate in the environment

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Project early 2011 –2013

Design IT system Feasibility of using cooporate CITRIX solutions Test environment to pilot EGR and Decentralised

Access Development of the applications for remote access Design workflows and procedures Security profiles Training Eurostat staff to operate and maintain the

system