IT Acceptable use – Policy and Procedure

This policy is intended for all members of the college community including, but not exclusively, Aquinas governors, staff and students for more detailed scope see section 3. In addition students are given specific guidance on relevant policy content as part of induction and the information is reinforced as part of the login screen.

1 INTRODUCTION

Aquinas College is committed to protecting Aquinas College’s users, partners and the college from illegal or damaging actions by individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly. Aquinas College’s intentions for publishing an Acceptable Use Policy are not to impose restrictions that are contrary to Aquinas College’s established culture of openness, trust and integrity. The aim is to provide guidance on the safe and appropriate use of technology.

This policy aims to cover all electronic and communications equipment provided by Aquinas College. Internet/Intranet/Extranet-related systems, including but not limited to computer equipment, software, operating systems, storage media, network accounts providing electronic mail, WWW browsing, and FTP, that are the property of Aquinas College. These systems are to be used for educational purposes in serving the interests of the college, and of our students in the course of normal operations.

Effective security is a team effort involving the participation and support of every Aquinas College employee and affiliate, who deals with information and/or information systems. It is the responsibility of every computer user to know these guidelines, and to conduct their activities accordingly.

2.0 Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of technology and other related services and accessories at Aquinas College. These rules are in place to protect the employee and Aquinas College. Inappropriate use exposes Aquinas College to risks including virus attacks, compromise of network systems and services and legal issues.

3.0 Scope

This policy applies to members of the college community including all members of the Governing body staff and students and also applies to contractors, consultants and other workers at Aquinas College, including all personnel affiliated with third parties. This policy applies to all equipment that is owned or leased by Aquinas College.

4.0 Policy

4.1 General Use and Ownership

While Aquinas College’s network administration desires to provide a reasonable level of privacy, users should be aware that the data they create on the college systems remains the property of Aquinas College. Because of the need to protect Aquinas College’s network, management cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information stored on any network device belonging to Aquinas College.

Employees are responsible for exercising good judgment regarding the reasonableness of personal use. Individual departments are responsible for supporting the guidelines concerning personal use of Internet/Intranet/Extranet systems. If there is any uncertainty, employees should consult their supervisor or manager.

Aquinas College recommends that any information that users consider sensitive or vulnerable be encrypted. For guidelines on information classification, see Aquinas College's Data Protection Policy. For guidelines on encrypting email and documents, contact Aquinas College's Technical Staff.

For security and network maintenance purposes, authorised individuals within Aquinas College may monitor equipment, systems and network traffic at any time, as per Aquinas College's Audit Policy[AM1] . Individuals are authorised by the IT manager and agreed by the Principal.

Aquinas College reserves the right to audit networks and systems on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.

4.2 Security and Proprietary Information

The user interface for information contained on Internet/Intranet/Extranet-related systems (eg My Aquinas) should be classified as either confidential or not confidential, as defined by college confidentiality guidelines, details of which can be found in Data Protection policies. Examples of confidential information include but are not limited to: student personal information, staff personal information or financial information. Employees should take all necessary steps to prevent unauthorised access to this information.

All passwords should be kept secure and accounts should not be shared. Authorised users are responsible for the security of their passwords and accounts. System level passwords should be changed quarterly, user level passwords should be changed at least every six months.

All PCs, laptops and workstations should be secured with a password-protected screensaver with the automatic activation feature set at 10 minutes or less, or by logging-off (control-alt-delete for Windows users) when the host will be unattended.

Because information contained on portable computers is especially vulnerable, special care should be exercised.

Postings by Users from a Aquinas College email address to any online forum should contain a disclaimer stating that the opinions expressed are strictly their own and not necessarily those of Aquinas College , unless posting is in the course of educational duties. How do we monitor this?

All computers or other devices used that are connected to the Aquinas College Internet/Intranet/Extranet, whether owned by the User or Aquinas College , shall be continually executing approved virus-scanning software with a current virus database unless overridden by departmental or group policy.

Users must use extreme caution when opening e-mail attachments received from unknown senders, which may contain viruses, e-mail bombs, or Trojan horse code.

4.3. Unacceptable Use

The following activities are, in general, prohibited. Employees may be exempted from these restrictions during the course of their legitimate job responsibilities (e.g., IT Support Staff may have a need to disable the network access of a user if that user is disrupting services).

Under no circumstances is an employee of Aquinas College authorised to engage in any recognised illegal activity while utilising Aquinas College-owned resources.

The lists below are by no means exhaustive, but attempt to provide a framework for activities which fall into the category of unacceptable use.

System and Network Activities

The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:

1. Violations of the rights of any person or organisation protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by Aquinas College.

2. Unauthorised copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to digitisation and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other copyrighted sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any copyrighted software for which Aquinas College or the end user does not have an active license.

3. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.).

4. Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others. This includes family and other household members when work is being done at home.

5. Using an Aquinas College computing asset to actively engage in procuring or transmitting material that is in violation of sexual harassment in line with college policy.

6. Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from any Aquinas College account.

7. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the user is not an intended recipient or accessing or logging into a server or account that the user is not expressly authorised to access, unless these activities are within the scope of regular duties. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, network sniffing, pinged floods, packet spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious purposes.

8. Port scanning or security scanning is expressly prohibited unless prior notification to Aquinas College is made.

9. Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for the User's host, unless this activity is a part of the User's normal job/duty.

10. Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account.

11. Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, with the intent to interfere with, or disable, a user's session, via any means, locally or via the Internet/Intranet/Extranet.

12. Providing unauthorised information about, or lists of, Aquinas College employees or students to parties outside Aquinas College.

13. Accessing materials the college deems inappropriate.

Email and Communications Activities

1. Sending unsolicited email messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such material (email spam).

2. Any form of harassment via any communication technology, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages.

3. Unauthorized use, or forging, of email header information.

4. Solicitation of email for any other email address, other than that of the poster's account, with the intent to harass or to collect replies.

5. Creating or forwarding "chain letters", "Ponzi" or other "pyramid" schemes of any type.

6. Sending of unsolicited email originating from within Aquinas College's networks of other Internet/Intranet/Extranet service providers.

Telephony

1. Aquinas College’s telephony systems, networks, related services and equipment are for the exclusive use by employees and Governors in connection with the College’s business and are subject to monitoring. Use by any other person/persons, including students will be at the discretion of the College under agreed terms.

2. Whilst the College will tolerate essential personal telephone use concerning for example an employee’s domestic arrangements, excessive personal use is prohibited. This includes lengthy, casual conversations and calls at premium rates.

4. If a particularly sensitive, private or confidential telephone call needs to be made or taken, for work or personal reasons, then advice should be taken from a senior manager.

5. If the College discovers that there has been any inappropriate use this will be dealt with under College disciplinary procedures for staff and students and may include being required to pay to the College the cost of any personal use.

6. Employees should be aware that telephony systems, networks and related services and equipment are routinely monitored to ensure optimum performance, customer satisfaction and to identify any abuse or infringement of college policies.

7. Use of personal or College mobile phones and related communication devices in examinations is covered under examination arrangements and protocols.

8. Health and safety issues related to the use of College mobile phones and related communication devices are subject to relevant health and safety policies and procedures.

9. Use of College mobile phones and related communication devices outside of College are subject to relevant risk assessments and trips and visits arrangements, policies and procedures.

10. Use of personal or College mobile phones and related communication devices in the classroom is subject to the discretion of the individual teacher. Use of personal or college mobile phones and related communication devices in general social and learning areas such as the Learning Centre are subject to local arrangements in force. See section 4.5

4.4. Social Media

The use of Social Media by employees, whether using Aquinas College’s property and systems or personal computer systems, is also subject to the terms and restrictions set out in this Policy. Limited and occasional use of Aquinas College ’s systems to engage in Social Media is acceptable, provided that it is done in a professional and responsible manner, does not otherwise violate Aquinas College’s policy, is not detrimental to Aquinas College’s best interests, and does not interfere with an employee's regular work duties. Social Media from Aquinas College’s systems is also subject to monitoring.

Aquinas College’s information policies also apply to Social Media. As such, Employees are prohibited from revealing any confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets or any other material covered by information policies.

Users shall not engage in any Social Media that may harm or tarnish the image, reputation and/or goodwill of Aquinas College and/or any of its employees. Users are also prohibited from making any discriminatory, disparaging, defamatory or harassing comments when Social Media or otherwise engaging in any conduct prohibited in line with college policies.

Users may also not attribute personal statements, opinions or beliefs to Aquinas College when engaged in Social Media. If an employee is expressing his or her beliefs and/or opinions in blogs, the employee may not, expressly or implicitly, represent themselves as an employee or representative of Aquinas College. Users assume any and all risk associated with Social Media.

Apart from following all laws pertaining to the handling and disclosure of copyrighted or export controlled materials, Aquinas College ’s trademarks, logos and any other Aquinas College intellectual property may also not be used in connection with any Social Media activity.

4.5 BYOD

Aquinas College grants its employees the privilege of connecting their personal devices to the college guest wifi connection. This is a sandboxed network allowing users to access the college’s internet connection but allowing no access to internal systems. This connection will allow staff to make use of the college’s web enabled applications (such as my Aquinas). The college will not permit personal devices to access the internal college networks directly.

Aquinas College reserves the right to revoke this privilege if users do not abide by the policies and procedures outlined below.

This policy is intended to protect the security and integrity of Aquinas College’s data and technology infrastructure. Limited exceptions to the policy may occur due to variations in devices and platforms.

Aquinas College employees must agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this policy in order to be able to connect their devices to the college network.

Acceptable Use

• The college defines acceptable business use as activities that directly or indirectly support the business of Aquinas College.
• Section 4.3 of this document lists the activities generally identified as unacceptable to the college.
• The college defines acceptable personal use on college time as reasonable, limited personal communication or recreation as long as this does not interfere with your core college activities.
• Employees are blocked from accessing certain websites during work hours/while connected to the corporate network at the discretion of the college.
• Devices may not be used within the college network to:
  • Store or transmit illicit materials
  • Store or transmit proprietary information
  • Harass others

Devices and Support

• The college will allow any wireless enabled device to connect to the guest wireless.
• Connectivity issues are supported by the IT support department; employees should contact the device manufacturer or their carrier for operating system or hardware-related issues.
• Due to the wide variety of devices available it is not feasible for the technical support staff to provide support with hardware and software issues that may prevent the device from functioning within the college network

Security

• If you hold any student information on your personal device then you should take reasonable steps to protect that data. These steps should include some or all of :-
  • Password Protecting the device (as a minimum security level)
  • Encrypting private data on the device
  • Installing remote wipe software on a device in case it is stolen

The college would recommend that if you do need to access personal student information on a personal device the information should not be stored on the device. If you need to extract the information from the college systems it should be securely stored, one option would be on the office365 onedrive.

Risks/Liabilities/Disclaimers

• The college reserves the right to disconnect devices or disable services without notification.
• The employee is expected to use his or her devices in an ethical manner at all times and adhere to the college’s acceptable use policy as outlined above.
• The employee is personally liable for all costs associated with his or her device.
• The employee assumes full liability for risks including, but not limited to, the partial or complete loss of college and personal data due to an operating system crash, errors, bugs, viruses, malware, and/or other software or hardware failures, or programming errors that render the device unusable.

5 Enforcement

Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to the college disciplinary policy and procedures. Aquinas College reserves the right to take appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination for noncompliance with this policy.

Definitions

Term Definition

Social Media Writing a blog. A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal

that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.

Spam Unauthorized and/or unsolicited electronic mass mailings.

Port Scanning A port scanner is a software application designed to probe a

server or host for open ports. This is often used by administrators

to verify security policies of their networks and by attackers to

identify running services on a host with the view to compromise it.