Acceptable use policy what is it

These range from warning users to disabling user accounts to extreme measures such as legal action. By: Justin Stoltzfus Contributor, Reviewer. By: Satish Balakrishnan. Dictionary Dictionary Term of the Day. Natural Language Processing. Techopedia Terms. Connect with us. Sign up. Term of the Day. Best of Techopedia weekly. News and Special Offers occasional. Share this Term. Users are now more comfortable blurring the lines between personal and work when it comes to personal mobile devices, not always thinking about the implications.

Most employees do not want to be the cause of a network breach or data loss, yet one in five will do so either through malware or malicious WiFi.

All it takes is one infection on one device to impact both corporate and personal data and networks. Creating an effective AUP begins by collaborating with relevant stakeholders from human resources, finance, legal, IT, and security.

The questions below can provide a good starting point when creating your policy:. A signed copy of the policy should be included in each employee file, backed up with your vital records and included in your business continuity plan. If you need more info or would like your existing Acceptable Use Policies reviewed, please contact Exigence on or services exigence.

The following activities are, in general, prohibited. Employees may be exempted from these restrictions during the course of their legitimate job responsibilities e. Under no circumstances is an employee of Nicholls State University authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing Nicholls State University-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. The Information Technology team will verify compliance to this policy through various methods, including but not limited to, business tool reports, internal and external audits, and feedback to the policy owner.

Any exception to the policy must be approved by the Information Technology team in advance. An employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. In addition to University discipline, users may be subject to criminal prosecution under federal, state or local laws; civil liability; or both for unlawful use of any IT System.

Nicholls State University. Examples of confidential information include but are not limited to: student information grades, transcripts, enrollment, identification numbers, etc. Employees should take all necessary steps to prevent unauthorized access to this information. All computing devices must be secured with a password-protected screensaver with the automatic activation feature set to 30 minutes or less. You must lock the screen or log off when the device is unattended.

Postings by employees from a Nicholls State University email address to newsgroups should contain a disclaimer stating that the opinions expressed are strictly their own and not necessarily those of Nicholls State University, unless posting is in the course of business duties. Employees must use extreme caution when opening e-mail attachments received from unknown senders, which may contain malware.

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 Nicholls State University or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.

Accessing data, a server or an account for any purpose other than conducting Nicholls State University business, even if you have authorized access, is prohibited. Exporting software, technical information, encryption software or technology, in violation of international or regional export control laws, is illegal.