Adelphi University Office of Information Technology


Adelphi IT Policies Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of computer and network services provided and/or used by Adelphi University, including the equipment and additional resources used to provide these services. These rules are in place to ensure that an optimal learning environment for students is available, and that academic freedom of pursuit can be ensured. In addition, this policy protects the information used by administration and staff so that it is maintained at proper levels of availability, confidentiality, and integrity. Inappropriate use exposes Adelphi University to risks including virus attacks, compromise of network systems and services, and legal issues.

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Scope
This policy applies to faculty, administration, staff, students, contractors, consultants, temporaries, and others with access to Adelphi University IT resources, including all personnel affiliated with third parties. This policy applies to all equipment that is owned, leased or used by Adelphi University.

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Policy
Proper use of University IT resources follows the same standards of common sense and courtesy that govern the use of other public facilities. Therefore, the basic policy of acceptable use is that University IT resources are permitted to be used in order to perform and/or support legitimate instructional and/or research activities and for no other purpose.

Examples of improper use include, but are not limited to
  • Any use of University IT resources unrelated to legitimate instructional or research computing if it interferes with another user's legitimate instructional or research computing;

  • Any use of University IT resources that violates another person's intellectual property rights;

  • Any use of University IT resources that violates another person's privacy;

  • Any use of University IT resources that violates any other Adelphi policy, any local, state or federal law, or which is obscene, defamatory, or may damage the University's good name and reputation;

  • Any use of University IT resources resulting in commercial gain or private profit (other than allowable under university intellectual property policies).
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General Use and Ownership
  1. Data is a critical and valuable asset of the University. All members of the Adelphi community have a responsibility to protect University data from unauthorized creation, access, modification, disclosure, transmission, or destruction and are expected to be familiar with and comply with this policy.

  2. ll data and information assets created with or stored on systems operated by, or on behalf of the University, remain the property of Adelphi University, unless previously agreed upon in an explicit written agreement or approved policy.

  3. Adelphi University highly values the individual's privacy. However, driven by the need to protect the University's information assets, users should not expect an absolute level of privacy. Where necessary, designated employees are able and authorized to access personal email accounts, monitor the network, access files and databases, etc., without obtaining prior approval of the user in question.

  4. Information system accounts that expire or are closed may be deleted, including any data or information contained in them, in accordance with the terms of the account.

  5. Control of files contained in expired accounts may be transferred to the account holder's supervisor.

  6. All users are required to comply with the University's IT policies.

  7. Loopholes in information security systems or knowledge of a special password must be reported to the Office of Information Technology as soon as possible and are not to be used to damage information systems, obtain extra resources, take resources from another user, gain access to systems, or use systems for which proper authorization has not been given.
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Security and Proprietary Information

All users are required to:
  1. Keep passwords secure and to not share accounts.

  2. Authorized users are responsible for the security of their passwords and accounts, and will be held accountable for any (mis)use of their accounts.

  3. When using encryption to protect the confidentiality of files, users are required to consult with the Office of Information Technology to discuss best practices.

  4. Because portable computers are especially vulnerable, special care must be exercised to secure confidential information when using mobile equipment.

  5. All systems that are connected to the Adelphi University network, whether owned by the University or by a third party, must be continually executing approved virus-scanning software with a current virus database.

  6. Disabling or tampering with mechanisms that protect University IT resources is prohibited.

  7. Users must use extreme caution when opening email attachments received from unknown senders, which may contain viruses, email bombs, or "Trojan horse code".

  8. Suspected breaches of information security must be reported to the Office of Information Technology. Users are required to cooperate fully with any investigation that is conducted by Adelphi IT.

  9. n order to protect the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of the University's network, information assets, and computer equipment, the Office of Information Technology is authorized to revoke any and all access to computer and/or network resources from a user at any time.
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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., systems administration staff may have a need to disable the network access of a host if that host is disrupting production services).

The items listed 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 prohibited:
  1. Violations of the rights of any person or company 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 Adelphi University.

  2. Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other copyrighted sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any copyrighted software for which Adelphi University or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.

  3. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, email 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 off-campus.

  5. 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 logging into a server or account that the user is not expressly authorized to access, unless these duties 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.

  6. Conducting investigations to identify the source of suspected technical problems or misconduct, unless explicitly authorized in a job function and in accordance with established policies and procedures.

  7. 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.

  8. Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account, or circumventing or disabling any security controls.

  9. Interfering with or denying service to any user other than the user's host (e.g., denial of service attack).

Email and Communications Activities

The following activities are also prohibited:
  1. Sending unsolicited messages (via email, instant messages, posting to websites, etc.), 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 email, instant messaging, telephone or any other communications form, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages.

  3. Unauthorized use, or forging, of information that can be used to identify the originator of a message.

  4. Use of unsolicited email, instant messaging, or posting to Internet-based forums originating from within Adelphi University's networks or other network service providers on behalf of, or to advertise, any service hosted by Adelphi University or connected via Adelphi University's network.
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Definition of Terms

Term
Definition
IT Resources All computer and network services provided and/or used by Adelphi University, including the equipment and additional resources used to provide these services.
User Any person covered by this policy who uses IT resources.

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Enforcement
The Office of Information Technology staff is responsible for monitoring compliance with this policy and for dealing with minor violations of this policy. Repeated or serious violations will be referred to the Dean of Student Affairs when the violator is a student, or to the Provost or the Assistant Vice President of Human Resources when the violator is member of faculty, administration, or staff.

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Deviation from policy
Permission to deviate from this policy may be granted in writing only by the Chief Information Officer or his delegate.
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Contact
For additional information or assistance, please contact:

IT HelpDesk
Office of Information Technology
 Adelphi University
Swirbul Library, 2nd Floor
1 South Avenue
P.O. Box 701
Garden City, NY 11530-0701

p - 516.877.3340
p - ext. 3340 (on campus only)
e - helpdesk@adelphi.edu

Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. to Midnight
Friday & Saturday: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to Midnight


This page last modified on October 30, 2009.
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