bwSync&Share for members of participating universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg

The state service bwSync&Share is an online storage service for employees and students of universities and colleges in Baden-Württemberg. This has been operated at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) since 01.01.2014 and enables users to synchronize or exchange their data between different computers, mobile devices and users.
Users receive support from the local helpdesk of their home institution.

Terms of use bwSync&Share

If an institution wants to provide the bwSync&Share service to its users, the following requirements must be met:

  • The service is connected to bwIDM, therefore the institution must join the bwIDM federation as a home organization, i.e. as an Identity Provider (IdP). More details on the bwIDM pages under Services and Participation Home Organization.
  • Explicit authorization of the home institution: The institution must conclude a contract for the use of the online storage service "bwSync&Share" and an AVV with KIT. This contract will be sent to the institution by the KIT legal department when the KIT is informed (preferably via the e-mail address bwsyncandshare ∂does-not-exist.scc kit edu) of the name of a person and a postal address to which the shipment should be made.

Upon conclusion of the contract, the institution is a member of the bwSync&Share network and the users of the institution can register for the service via the login page according to the procedure described on the information page and subsequently use the service.

Services and user group

The bwSync&Share service is an online storage service that enables employees and students of universities and colleges in the state of Baden-Württemberg to synchronize or share their data between different computers, mobile devices, and users. For this purpose, the data is stored on the KIT storage systems.
Data can be accessed using Sync&Share clients, which are available for the operating systems Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Apple iOS, and Android, as well as cross-platform via web browser. In addition, a user can make his stored data accessible to other users by assigning appropriate access rights.
By integrating OnlyOffice, an online editor comparable to Google Docs, Office documents can be edited via the web interface even without installing an Office suite on the end device. In addition to synchronizing and sharing files, this also makes it possible to edit files jointly and simultaneously.

Storage space

The amount of storage space a user can have is limited to 50 GB.

Guests

In addition to the users of the institutions that are members of the bwSync&Share network, other people can be invited as guests, e.g. to collaborate on documents, but without their own storage volume.

Access and registration

The service is accessed via the website https://bwsyncandshare.kit.edu/.
When logging in, users select their institution and log in with the login data of their home account.
If the user has not yet registered for the service, they will be automatically taken to the bwIDM registration page the first time they log in, where they must first register for the service.

Cancellation and deprovisioning

The user can cancel the service via the website itself and his account will be deregistered for the bwSync&Share service.
Automatic deregistration also occurs when the user account is no longer active in the local user management of the home institution or when the local user account has lost the right (Entitlement) to use bwSync&Share.
If there is no longer a valid registration for a user's account, the deprovisioning of the account and data is started.
For more information on deprovisioning, see the Deprovisioning page.

Data protection

When registering for the bwSync&Share service, the following user information is transmitted in encrypted form from the home institution to the service operator KIT and stored there:

  • First and last name
  • E-mail address
  • Home institution
  • Unique user ID (EPPN & persistent ID)
  • Status of the user (student, employee, guest)

If you are not participating in the bwSync&Share service, this data will not be transferred to the bwSync&Share service.
The regulations of the State Data Protection Act (LDSG) and area-specific data protection regulations (in particular TKG, TMG) in the respective applicable versions are observed.
The rules of the'Regulations for Digital Information Processing and Communication' (IuK) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology apply.

Data security

The communication between the end devices of the users and the service infrastructure of KIT is encrypted. The stored data is stored in encrypted form on the online storage systems of KIT.

Data access is restricted to:

  • The user who initially stored the data.
  • Other users authorized by the data owner by granting appropriate access rights.

Data backup in the form of a duplicate copy does not take place.

Availability

The systems of the service infrastructure run around the clock in regular operation. During service hours (weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00), the response time is four hours. KIT generally strives for the highest possible service availability. Planned service interruptions (e.g. for maintenance work) are announced in advance with a notice period of five days.

Support

If you have questions or problems, your local helpdesk will be happy to assist you.