In Canada, research is an incredibly valuable asset which contributes to the Canadian society as a whole and also gives back to the world internationally. At the same time, this research is vulnerable to foreign hostile actors and regimes and there is a real risk that such actors will attempt to access, acquire and misuse research to undermine Canadian national security and critical infrastructure. According to CSIS, Canadian researchers are not alone in facing such risks.
In response to these growing risks to national security, federal departments responsible for security released the National Security Guidelines for research partnerships on July 12, 2021. The Safeguarding Your Research portal was also launched to better educate Canadian researchers.
Data Storage and File Sharing at Carleton
Research Computing Services is offering a secure, online file sharing platform based on Citrix ShareFile for researchers to store their data and collaborate with Carleton faculty and students, as well as external collaborators. This service is similar to many commercial products like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. The data is stored locally within the secured data centre on Carleton’s campus. RCS ShareFile has been fully assessed by ITS’s information security professionals to be operating within the acceptable risk tolerance as defined in the University’s Risk Management Framework. Based on this, the Carleton Research Ethics Boards deemed it an acceptable platform for research data. For more information, including how to get an account and how to get started, please visit https://carleton.ca/rcs/sharefile/.
What research areas are most at risk?
Please refer to this webpage for a list of sensitive areas of research.
What can I do?
Researchers can take an active role in protecting their research in the following ways: