Tag: Restricted Data

Restricted Data: Retention and Destruction

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Restricted data is subject to retention and destruction standards imposed
by federal and state laws, regulatory mandates, and campus policies.
The UF data retention schedule is available on the Smathers Library site.

As important as it is for faculty and staff to know data retention standards, it’s equally important to know how to properly discard restricted data. Different media requires different destruction methods. For example, just throwing away paper records or deleting restricted data from a PC or other device does not meet university requirements. Paper records, CDs, and DVDs with restricted data cannot be reused and should be cross-cut shredded or incinerated. The sanitization and destruction standards policy should be mandatory reading for anyone in the UF community prior to working with or handling restricted data.

UF Property Surplus provides campus with secure media disposal services. They have two drop-off locations, at Building 811 off of Elmore Drive and at the UFIT Help Desk in the Hub. Faculty and staff who have questions about working with or properly disposing of restricted data are welcome to email UF’s Information Security Office.

ResVault is UF’s Ultra-Secure Bank for Restricted Data

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UF’s ResVault meets the NIST 800-171 requirements, enabling scientists and collaborators to conduct research on restricted and confidential data. The new ResVault brochure is now online.

“We worked with UFIT to develop a robust environment that meets the very strict federal information security guidelines,” says Roland Estrella, clinical research manager for the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics. “The ResVault environment provides authorized users with on-demand access to linked data from multiple state agencies and has the capacity to process billions of medical and administrative records.”

Think of ResVault as a bank vault for restricted data. Like a bank, account holders can purchase a “safety deposit box” to store valuables. That box is a highly controlled environment where only authenticated, authorized users can work on the restricted data stored there. ResVault also has significant privacy protocols that protect what’s stored there from other customers and staff. When you want to access data stored in your ResVault, you have your own secure area to privately do so.

Researchers who would like to use ResVault may contact Brian Parks, Senior Information Systems Operations Analyst with UFIT Research Computing.