Redirect Temporary Work Files
Statistical applications may create temporary data sets during the execution of your programs. The location of these temporary working directories can be specified for each statistical application. You should configure your statistical analysis software to point the temporary work files to an encrypted temporary data directory (i.e., e:\tmpDATA) to ensure portions of your data set are not accessible by unauthorized individuals. You should then run the secure erasure program on this temporary data directory periodically.
Following are some popular statistical applications and directions for redirecting the temporary working directories.
Stata
- To point temporary Stata files to a secured directory, you need to set an environment variable called STATATMP and point it to the secured directory (i.e., e:\ahd\tmpSTATA).
- See http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/data/statatmp.html for more details.
SAS
- Add the following to the end of the "Target/Command" line in the properties of the SAS shortcut: -work "drive_letter:\secure_directory" (i.e.: -work "e:\ahd\tmpSAS").
SPSS
- In SPSS you need to manually set the temporary working directory. This is done under Edit, Options, Temporary Directory.
Mplus
- To set Mplus to use a secured directory for
temporary files, create the FORT_TMPDIR environment variable and assign it the
name of the secured directory.
