Reasons why Employee Code of Conducts were created are outlined below:- 

• Introduction of viruses – by downloading games, not scanning portable media, not keeping virus scanners up-to-date, etc.

• Personal use of equipment, software or Internet. Misuse by employees of the ICT facilities, e.g. using telecommunications for own purposes (e.g. phone calls (runing up phone bill), personal e-mail, videoconferencing, etc.) and using printers for personal use.

• Distribution of material that is racially or sexually offensive – for example, sending offensive jokes by e-mail or text messages, circulating offensive images over the organisation’s network, etc.

• Misuse of data for illicit purposes – for example, using e-mails and text messaging to bully someone at work or school/college.

• Fraud - Using data to set up own business, etc.

• Blackmail, computer fraud or selling to other organisations.

• Violating terms of copyright or software agreements thus causing the company to face legal action from software suppliers or other affected organisations.

• Taking data from the system and not protecting it, e.g. losing laptop

• Introduction of viruses / own disks

• Swapping identities (theft or given)

• Slowing down of network

• Games playing

• Even if downloading information for work, employees can get engrossed and waste time; Could be downloading material with copyright issues with implications for the employee and employer;

• Responsibilities e.g. clearly state that the employee has to abide by company rules

• Respecting rights of others e.g. not harrassing colleagues, log others off the network if they forget to log off.

• Abiding by current legislation e.g. abide by any relevant legislation such as the Data Protection Act (1998), Equal Opportunities Act, Computer Misuse Act (1990), Copyright Designs & Patents Act etc

• Protecting hardware and software from malicious damage

• Complying with licensing agreements e.g. not installing your own software on a network/PC; In school all software has to be installed by the technicians and they must comply with the license agreements.

• Authorisation – what parts of the system they can use e.g. clearly state what the employee can and can’t do to data

• Permissions on data access e.g. only access what you are allowed to, don't attempt to gain access to someone's else's account or work.

• Security defining rules about password disclosure, data transfer rules and personal use of emails and the Internet

• Rules regarding personal use e.g. no printing for your own personal use, running up phone bills etc

• Consequences of breaking the code e.g. informal (verbal) warnings, written warnings, dismissal, prosecution

• Warning about monitoring