This class focuses on the tools and good practices for storing confidential data, sharing data for collaboration, and publishing data or derivative results for broad use.  Topics covered in this class include: an overview of information security standards and frameworks; information security core practices (credentials, authentication, authorization, and auditing); information partitioning and secure linking; file, disk, and network encryption tools and practices; cloud storage practices for confidential information; data “de-identification” tools and practices; statistical disclosure limitation approaches and tools; and data use agreements.

The course will be presented in a half-day format. Individual consultations may be scheduled with Dr. Altman by contacting Kelly Hopkins at khopkins@mit.edu.

Discussant Bio: Dr. Micah Altman is Director of Research and Head/Scientist, Program on Information Science for the MIT Libraries, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Dr. Altman is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. Prior to arriving at MIT, Dr. Altman served at Harvard University for fifteen years as the Associate Director of the Harvard-MIT Data Center, Archival Director of the Henry A. Murray Archive, and Senior Research Scientist in the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences.

Dr. Altman conducts work primarily in the fields of social science, information privacy, information science and research methods, and statistical computation—focusing on the intersections of information, technology, privacy, and politics; and on the dissemination, preservation, reliability and governance of scientific knowledge.