19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 1 Item 3.3.g of the agenda Vision Infrastructure Project on Secure Infrastructure for CONfidential data access (SICON) Jean-Marc MUSEUX Unit B2 – Methodology and research

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 2 Background The exchange of confidential data among ESS partners is enabled by Regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics The access to EU confidential microdata for scientific purposes is enabled by Regulation (EC) No 831/2002. Access need to be improved through providing more and easier access to detailed microdata under safe centre conditions The Eurostat Vision for the production of Official Statistics in the next decade (Commission Communication 404/2009) is advocating for a better integration of EU statistics production processes aiming at efficiency gains.

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 3 Project 1 : EGR "EuroGroups Register" (EGR) project aims at offering to both MS and Eurostat access to integrated and up-to- date register data on enterprise groups. The EGR will consist of a central register kept at Eurostat in combination with "satellites" in each Member State, altogether forming a network of registers.

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 4 Project 2 : Decentralised access to confidential data for scientific purpose Project aims to allow researchers to carry out their statistical analysis directly on the confidential data on Eurostat servers. It will avoid researchers to travel to Luxembourg. In a first step, access will be given from MS safe centre environment (recommendation of ESSnet on decentralised access to EU confidential data)

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 5 Common infrastructure to store and provide access to confidential data on Eurostat servers A common infrastructure enabling –Data viewing –Data processing (statistical analysis, editing, updating, …) –without mitigating on the risk of lose of control on the data Common remote access faciltty –Data remains on Eurostat secure servers –Users are identified –Access through secured connection Project owners: Unit B2 and Unit B4

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 6 Project vision Access to conf. data The confidential data can be viewed, processed (calculations executed), consulted, controlled and minor updates (typing data in manually) can be made. Only screens of the virtual desktops at the server are send to the client. Applications: 1.Decentralised access for scientific purposes 2.Consultation and synchronization of the EGR Exchange of conf. data  Data can be flow from and into the secure environment. In combination with step 1 this would make possible: updates and linking of data, viewing and reacting to import, reports, etc. Applications: 1.Maintenance of the EGR 2.TRIS Final validation 3.All central databases updates by MS Distributed conf. data  All confidential data stays in the MS. There the country databases are maintained. The various datasets in the MS are connected via a central node at Eurostat. Applications: 1.All central databases consisting of MS parts 2.Incorporation of Data Archives into the system VIP

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 7 First elements of the infrastructure for step 1 A secured network environment (INTSEC) hosted on Eurostat servers separated out from production enviroment (FULSEC) CITRIX solutions for managing/configuring secured access Drawing on cooperate solutions available at Commission level (DIGIT - RACHEL) A set of applications and tools to be hosted and operate in the environment

19-20 October 2010IT Directors’ Group Meeting 8 Project early 2011 –2013 Design IT system Feasibility of using cooporate CITRIX solutions Test environment to pilot EGR and Decentralised Access Development of the applications for remote access Design workflows and procedures Security profiles Training Eurostat staff to operate and maintain the system