Cybersecurity

We treat security as part of how a system is built and run — not as a slogan. The focus is defensive: who can see data, how it moves, and how work continues after a failure.

This is the work we do on SAWE products and on partner systems: accounts, permissions, encrypted connections, backups, and careful handling of health and survey records.

What we do

Defensive controls in the real system

Access control

Named accounts, roles, least privilege, and removal of access when a person leaves a project.

Protecting data in transit

HTTPS/TLS on websites and APIs so passwords and records are not sent in clear text.

Protecting data at rest

Database permissions, hashed passwords, and restricted folders for identifiable files.

Backup and recovery

Scheduled copies and a tested restore path so a disk failure or mistake is not the end of the dataset.

Logging and review

Audit trails for logins and sensitive changes, and a process for reporting bugs and incidents.

Research data handling

Separation of identifiers, limited exports, and collection tools (such as REDCap) configured with project user rights.

Tools and practices we use

Concrete controls

TLS / HTTPSCertificates and forced HTTPS on public sites and APIs

Role-based accessAdmin, data entry, and read-only roles instead of shared passwords

Password hashingStored credentials hashed (for example bcrypt) — never kept as plain text

PostgreSQL privilegesDatabase users limited to the tables and actions they need

BackupsFile and database copies, with a restore check — not only a copy sitting on the same disk

Git and release notesTraceable code changes before software is published

REDCap user rightsForm-level and field-level access on research projects we host or configure

Device and app signingSigned Windows installers and Android APKs for software we publish

Need this capability on a live project?

Tell us the dataset, the field setting, and the decision the work must support. We will propose a concrete stack and a delivery path.

Contact SAWE