A MobiKey is a device that connects someone at a remote location to the SEAL Lab.
There are many options for establishing connections between computers, but they are far from equivalent from a security perspective. After extensive research, SEAL partnered with MobiKey as our remote access provider. This YouTube video explains more about its uses:
A MobiKey will work anywhere in the world. We currently have users in Korea, Israel, France, Italy and in many locations in North America.
A MobiKey does not use VPN technology. It is immune to man-in-the-middle security attacks and is very secure. MobiKeys are used by military and government organizations to protect their data from attack while the data is being accessed remotely.
Starting a Mobikey Session
1. Insert the MobiKey into a USB port on your computer. The MobiKey works for Apple and Windows based devices.
2. There are two passwords that are needed to use the MobiKey system. First, you will have to enter your MobiKey password to get access to the SEAL computer.
3. You may be assigned only one computer that you can access, or you may have a choice of several machines that you may use. It does not matter what machine you choose, your data will move to any computer that you select.
4. You will now be asked to enter your SEAL Lab username and password to log into the SEAL Lab.
5. Once you have logged in, you will have a Windows 10 desktop. This computer will work like any Windows 10 computer and has all the commands and functions that are familiar to you. The application software like Stata or QGIS is not executed from your computer, but it resident in the SEAL Lab and executes on the SEAL Lab computer.
6. The MobiKey temporarily takes over your computer and all the devices connected to it. This means that you will not be able to access your personal email, your web browser, your printer or any files that are located on your computer. This is a very important security feature of the MobiKey system. You cannot plug in a memory stick and download any data from the SEAL Lab. We suggest that you keep a second computer, or a tablet or even a smart phone available during your MobiKey session, so that you can look up something on the internet or email someone. A friendly reminder that your confidentiality agreement prohibits taking pictures of your computer screen.
