Best practice for secure access to pre-dealt hand records

00488172

I’d like to hear from other users about how they control access to prevent unauthorised access or copying of pre-dealt hand records.

All our hands are pre-dealt in advance and stored as .PBN and .pdf files on a couple of laptops that we use to score (EBUScore/Bridgemates) and operate our duplimate dealing machine. We rely on volunteers to score events and operate the dealing machine. This poses a potential security issue. Any volunteer has the ability to access and copy the hand records for any future session at our club. We rely solely on trust and the integrity of our volunteers. Have any clubs found ways to balance the need to keep systems easily accessible to helpers, whilst also imposing restrictions that ensure the integrity of hand records? For example is it possible to stop somebody installing a memory stick and copying all the files, or dumping all the files into a Hotmail account?

How do you deal with this risk at your club?

Mark Humphris

gordonrainsford

There are a few things that I know some clubs do and I'm sure there will be many other answers too:
1. Keep the files in a password protected area of the hard drive or password protect the individual file so that only those who need the particular file can access them.
2. Physically secure the container that contains the dealt boards, using cable ties or similar.
3. Deal lots of sets of boards but don't assign them to any particular game. Only choose which set to use at the start of the game.

Peter

We never put the deal files on the club computers. The volunteer who runs the dealing machine does so from their own laptop then uploads the deal file directly to bridgewebs. I know this means no lead checking in bridgemates.
A single copy of the hand record is printed, sealed and stapled in a dated envelope and enclosed with the boards.
(I know some clubs do away with even the director's copy of the hand records).
As much as possible we provide 'just in time boards' for events - I very much like Gordon's option 3 where possible.
We asked Gordon about this issue earlier in the year and posted his advice here: https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwon/bw.cgi?club=suffolkbridge&pid=display_page101&sessid=614572696060133
We discussed further physical security but decided that anyone determined to cheat could still do so - e.g. by buying their own cable ties to replace the ones they removed to inspect the boards.
The overwhelming view among all club reps at a recent meeting was that the current approach combined with the trustworthy volunteers we were lucky enough to have was perfectly sufficient.
It is a sensitive area and you need to be very careful not to alienate the volunteers you depend on.
It's also worth taking care to suppress any implied doubts about the trustworthiness of those volunteers unless these are clearly expressed with detailed evidence e.g. dates, hands, bids and / or plays when of course they can and should be investigated formally.

patricks

We use Gordon's option #3, with multiple sets available and the TD making the choice on the day.