What is Secure Data Collaboration and Dissemination?

Q: What is Secure Data Collaboration and Dissemination?

Secure Data Collaboration & Dissemination is a type of electronic information sharing where parties can securely exchange encrypted data.

Secure Data Collaboration and Dissemination is a type of electronic information sharing capability in which two or more parties can each securely exchange their data with each other in an encrypted software environment – for collaboration on projects, for example, or dissemination of sensitive information – while always maintaining control of their data.

This is possible because all of the source data remains encrypted by the secure environment, and each data owner holds their own exclusive encryption key. The key difference between this approach and traditional “secure data sharing” is that instead of encrypting the data files – like password-protected PDFs, spreadsheets, or presentations – it is the secure software environment where the “sharing” takes place that is encrypted. This is strong protection against the theft, destruction, alteration, or even accidental loss of important data assets, which makes secure data collaboration and dissemination a very important tool to government intelligence agencies, military organizations, research groups, medical centers, and a broad range of corporations.

Whether implemented in a cloud-based architecture to trade information between multiple organizations or in a cross-platform network within one organization for internal collaboration, the fundamental benefit of this capability is multi-level, trackable, compartmentalized protection of data assets. An equal benefit of secure data collaboration and dissemination, though, is increased productivity, giving professionals who handle sensitive information of any kind the power to work unhindered by fears that collaborating with outside partners or transferring closely-guarded data might result in the information being stolen, lost, destroyed, or contaminated. For example, with secure data collaboration and dissemination:

Intelligence agencies can quickly migrate actionable data opportunistically with need-to-know access;
Military C4ISR leaders can receive intelligence or issue orders anywhere, invulnerable to adversaries;
University researchers can exchange data to confirm or build on findings without external tampering;
Medical labs can share patient test results exclusively to appropriate doctors and hospitals;
Corporate personnel can collaborate from anywhere without risking their intellectual properties;
State and federal law enforcement can use inter-agency exchanges of data to improve public safety.

A well-designed secure data collaboration and dissemination environment – starting with technologies that combine proven security measures with advanced user flexibility – empowers game-changing exchanges of data and ideas while also facilitating timely dissemination of essential information where it is needed at substantially lower risk than traditional approaches.

This information page is provided as a service to our readers by BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based world leader in aerospace, defense, power, and intelligence solutions. Learn more about us here.