Overview of Secure Research Data Storage at TTU

The TTU IT Division provides and supports several free online file storage solutions:

* Mission Critical information is any information or data that is critical to the academic, research, or administrative operation of TTU.
** Non-Mission Critical information is any information or data that is considered non-essential to the function(s) of TTU, a TTU business unit, or a TTU official research project.

Note that for researchers, information may include both data and the associated manuscripts and analysis.  Most sponsored research data is considered mission critical, due to the external requirements and compliance.

Notes:

• Microsoft Teams provides a popular, collaborative environment, with Office 365 integration.
• OneDrive for Business has one terabyte (1 TB) of storage and is licensed for use by the Texas Tech community. You may use OneDrive for Business to save documents, photos, videos, and other files and access them from any computer or mobile device. You can also share those files with friends/colleagues and even collaborate on content together.
• SharePoint Online is ideal for files that many people may own or need to access. SharePoint is also conducive for collaboration.

Note to Researchers

Institutional Data may not be stored on a personal computing device, and must be stored on institutional resources described. Note that remote researchers can use:

• Microsoft Remote Desktop uses a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft called remote desktop protocol (RDP). Many years ago, a VPN connection was required in order to use RDP connections. Now, the TTU IT Division provides an RDP Gateway service to facilitate remote desktop connections without VPN. Traffic to and from the RDP Gateway to the remote client is encrypted, just like VPN connections.
  
  RDP Gateway features:
  • When off campus, no VPN connection required to connect to a TTU Windows computer.
  • Secure connections to TTU Windows workstations and servers from remote locations.
  • Use your remote computer as though you were sitting at your desk at work.
  • Access to intranet file shares (e.g., TechShare) and other services like Banner Admin.
  • Apps are available for Android, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Windows to access your Windows computer remotely.
  • When configuring a connection, set up an RDP gateway named "rdp.ttu.edu.
• TTUnet VPN has been implemented to allow faculty, staff, and students of Texas Tech University access to sensitive resources that are only available while connected to the TTU network.
  • Almost all IT services do not require a VPN connection. Examples of resources that may require VPN include:
    • Banner Admin
    • Apple Remote Desktop
    • Network print shares
    • Network file shares (e.g., MyWeb site admin access and TechShare)
    • KMS software activation
    • CMSDEV (Omni CMS development site)
  • To request access to VPN services, please contact IT Help Central with the details of your request, including an academic or business reason for of why a VPN connection is required and what services you are accessing that require VPN.
  • For MAC Users, you will use VPN and enable screen sharing (VNC).

Encryption

Encryption is one important way to protect TTU information resources and to comply with federal and state laws, and with relevant TTU Operating Policies. Encryption is the process of encoding your personal or business sensitive information so that only authorized parties can read it. You should use encryption to keep information private on hard drives, files, and folders. The TTU Office of the CIO provides encryption tools to aid you in protecting institutional laptops and desktops.

Windows and Mac Platforms

The TTU IT Division is rolling out encryption to all institutional laptops and desktops using Dell Data Protection Encryption (DDPE) for Windows and Jamf for macOS. The priority is on encrypting laptops and tablets first, with further details for desktops coming at a later date.

UNIX and Linux Platforms

A limited number of software vendors provide software-based full-disk encryption for UNIX and Linux platforms. Where available for specific versions of UNIX or Linux, the following features are required:

• FIPS 140-2 certified encryption algorithms
• Pre-boot authentication
• Forced strong password/key

File and folder encryption may be used to satisfy the encryption requirements of the Mobile Computing Policy on UNIX and Linux laptops. In these instances, the following features are required:

• FIPS 140-2 certified encryption algorithms
• Forced strong password/key

The TTU IT Division currently does not support a managed solution for full-disk or file and folder encryption on UNIX and Linux platforms. When using full-disk encryption on UNIX and Linux, decrypted backups of important data should be kept in a secure location.

Additional Information:

• Establish an on-going backup plan for your computer and data. We recommend the use of TTU-provided online storage such as OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Teams, or SharePoint Online, rather than storing data locally or on removable media. Please note, in the event that a problem occurs such as hard drive failure, a backup will be the only mechanism to restore encrypted data. If you need assistance in establishing a backup plan, contact your department's IT support staff or IT Help Central at (806) 742-4357 (HELP) or ithelpcentral@ttu.edu.
• Laptops managed centrally by the TTU IT Division (using KACE or Jamf) will automatically receive the encryption software through coordination with IT Help Central. For laptops not managed centrally by the TTU IT Division, IT Help Central will schedule a time with your department's IT support staff to implement the encryption solutions.
• Laptops currently encrypted with native operating system encryption—BitLocker (Windows) or FileVault (macOS)—will be seamlessly managed with DDPE (Windows) or Jamf (macOS).
• Once a laptop begins the encryption process, minor interaction may be required (accepting prompts, restarting, etc.).

Thank you for your partnership as we work to secure our community and TTU's data and information resources. You may find additional information about encryption online at https://www.askit.ttu.edu/encryption. For any questions or concerns, please contact IT Help Central at (806) 742-4357 (HELP) or ithelpcentral@ttu.edu.