How is the data secured? - Answer by Stéphane Paris
Interview with Stéphane PARIS, Head of Infrastructure Services for Data Processing and Management, DSI-Infrastructures
What is your role in the Recherche Data Gouv team?
I am co-facilitator, with Michel Bamouni, of Workpackage 4 of Recherche Data Gouv. This WorkPackage aims to implement the technical infrastructures that support the portal, the data repository of Recherche Data Gouv.
Where are the datasets stored in Recherche Data Gouv?
The data of Recherche Data Gouv is currently hosted in two secure data centers. The primary storage is hosted in an Inrae data center in Occitanie. It is duplicated in a data center in Ile de France that hosts the recovery plan of Recherche Data Gouv.
How is this data secure?
How can we be sure that the data deposited will not be lost? The two data centers have at least authenticated access control and fire detection systems. They have redundancies on the electrical chain: two power supplies backed up via separate inverters with at least 20 minutes of autonomy. They also benefit from at least one generator and a double supply to the ERDF network. The air conditioning systems are also backed up, either via redundancies on the cooling units, or via a chilled water reserve system and by redundancies on the cooling systems in the room. All of this equipment is supervised and benefits from maintenance contracts. The data storage systems have been designed so that the availability of Recherche Data Gouv is not impacted in the event of the loss of a server and two hard drives on each site. All of the solution's updates are tested on test servers, then in preproduction before going into production. The solution benefits from hardware maintenance and support on the software solution. A comparison of the Recherche Data Gouv database and the data actually stored on the storage systems is also carried out every night in an automated manner in order to check the consistency between the database and the data actually stored. This is to be able to react quickly in the event of a bug detected. The risk of data loss following a technical incident is therefore extremely low. The solution also makes it possible to version each data file deposited on Recherche Data Gouv, which makes it possible to find old versions of the data files in the event of human error. To address the risks associated with malicious activity, including cryptolockers, an external backup has also been implemented in partnership with the University of Strasbourg. This makes it possible to back up the Recherche Data Gouv data every night, benefiting from a technological breakthrough. Thus, even if Inrae's IT systems were to be compromised, the data would be stored securely in the university's data center.