A secure layer for a desktop weather data repository

Abstract

Availability and the accuracy of weather information is one of the factors that affect the accuracy of weather predictions. Agriculture being the backbone of the economy, these predictions vital and influence agricultural decisions by farmers. This information is also vital for other sectors such as aviation. The security of this information therefore is not only important but must be ensured to make sure accurate and timely predictions are made. For that reason, this project implemented a secure layer for the desktop weather data repository (WDR) to enhance the security of weather data stored in the system. The WDR a system which shall be used by the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) to collect, manage and ensure good use of weather data from all the weather stations in the country. The core features implemented in the project intend to protect the weather data through data encryption, limiting the access to the data and ensuring the principles of least privilege by implementing user roles, Tracking user typing patterns to ensure only authentic users of the system can get access to the data, Ensuring only authorized system access by implementing two factor authentication and limiting chances of data loss by synching the data from the local database to the online central server.