SURF SANE
SANE (Secure ANalysis Environment) is a trusted research environment (TRE) for analysis of sensitive data. A TRE implements the Five Safes and therefore also fits the requirements for a secure processing environment (SPE).
About
SANE (Secure ANalysis Environment) SANE (Secure ANalysis Environment) is a secure digital workspace where researchers can work with sensitive (health) data. It is a so-called Trusted Research Environment (TRE), offered by SURF.
- Researchers can analyze data within SANE after the data provider has granted access.
- Analysis results can only be exported to the researcher outside the SANE environment after verification by the data provider.
- The data provider can even prevent the researcher from viewing the data.
Who is SANE for?
- Researchers working with sensitive (health) data
- Data providers who want to make data securely available
Why use it?
- Data security: sensitive personal data is processed only within a protected environment
- Access control: roles and permissions are strictly managed
- Compliance: meets the requirements of the GDPR and DGA and is ISO27001 certified and periodically subjected to independent penetration tests. SANE also follows The Five Safes Principles
Getting started
SANE is centrally offered by SURF and can be requested by researchers affiliated with Dutch research organizations. When initiating a SANE project environment, the data provider is involved. This data provider must have a data processing agreement with SURF to offer data via SANE. For a more detailed description of the conditions for using SANE, please refer to the information available on the informatie op de SURF servicedesk.
Support
User support for SANE is available through SURF. A wealth of information can be found on the SURF Service Desk, and users may also reach out directly for assistance.
Conditions of use
SANE is available for collaborations between researchers and data providers at Dutch education and research institutions (SURF member institutes). There may be some exceptions to this. Please review the conditions under “Prerequisites” on the SURF Service Desk.
Fair use and pricing
Use of SANE can be financed in two ways:
- Through an NWO small compute application, requested via SURF.
- Through a direct contract for the purchase of compute capacity between the data user’s organization and SURF. For this, please refer to the overview of organizations with a direct contract.
Security controls
SANE is a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) and falls under the ISO27001-certificering van Research Cloud. In addition to the ISO27001 standard, SANE periodically undergoes independent penetration tests to ensure the capabilities of safeguarding sensitive data. SANE is a service component of Research Cloud where a data provider and one or more researchers form an SRAM Collaboration (CO) and work together. It is specifically designed to conduct research with sensitive data. The data provider uploads the data to a secure analysis environment, where only the researchers within that Collaboration can perform their analysis on that data. Data that are placed in SANE cannot be extracted outside the environment by the researcher. Any (aggregated) results that need to be exported are done upon request of the data provider.
For more information, see the SURF Servicedesk.
