We understand the concerns regarding the confidentiality of companies’ data. The following multi-layer protection plan ensures that your data is kept secure.

1. Each student makes a Non-Disclosure Agreement, NDA, with the company and NC State University. This agreement states that students will not share the results and the data with anyone outside their group. Students receive instruction in data privacy and security, and the law with respect to non-disclosure agreements. Because students are not employees of the university, they must individually consent to the sponsor’s NDA before being assigned to a project. The teams perform their work under confidentiality agreements and the results are the sole property of the respective sponsors. For more information about NDA please click here.
2. Unlike a master’s thesis, which is published, the Industry Project does not have a public disclosure requirement. Only members of the team have access to their sponsor’s data. Sponsors do not, under any circumstance, provide personally identifiable information (PII), and will only share data in a manner that is consistent with their third-party data transfer governance rules.
3. Technically, students can have access to your system through a Remote Desktop ​connection software. That means that they cannot retrieve the data into their system. They can only see the screen, where they will work with the data and software that you will provide for them. The browser’s filter on the system will be set up such that they cannot send the data to any other system outside the company. For more protection we also provide key-chain to each student that ​​​​updates the password for the Remote connection every time they need to connect to your system.