Encrypting research data

Encryption is a method of protecting sensitive research data by turning it into an unreadable code that only people with special passwords or keys can view.

Researchers are often required to encrypt sensitive research data to meet legal, ethical, and contractual requirements. This may be important when you are sharing or storing data to protect participants' privacy or to follow best practices in your research discipline.

• FileSender is ideal for most file transfers.
• Globus is ideal for transfers between multiple Research Drives, and between Research Drives and High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms.

For more information, refer to Choosing data transfer services.

Encrypting files on a University-managed device or a University virtual machine provides additional security. There are several methods for encrypting files, including:

• Built-in tools: Windows and macOS have built-in options to encrypt individual files and directories using your user account.
• Microsoft Office encryption: Using Microsoft Office common file types, such as .doc, .xlsx, and .ppt, you can save files as encrypted, password-protected files.
• Creating encrypted volumes using Veracrypt: Software which applies on-the-fly encryption to specific folders or sections of a computer’s filesystem.
• Using command-line tools: Provide the ability to encrypt files and manage the keys and identities used to authenticate encryption. OpenSSL is preinstalled on macOS systems, and GnuPG is available on most operating systems via applications such as GPG4Win.
• Creating a secure archive: Archiving software lets you create password-protected, compressed archives of files and folders. Examples include 7-Zip and WinZip, which are available in the Software Centre. It is often more efficient to package multiple files into a single .zip archive before sending them over FileSender.

Note: Use strong passwords when encrypting files. If a password or key is lost, then it is impossible to recover encrypted data.

Research Data Support Services
Email: researchdata@auckland.ac.nz