St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - TechSupport
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Interim Policies on Mobile and Wireless
Devices
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St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - TechSupport TechSupport |
St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Technology Committee
Interim Policies on Mobile and Wireless Devices
November 3, 2003
Updated September 2, 2005
The rapid increase in use of mobile devices such as notebook computers, portable digital assistants, sophisticated mobile phones, and wireless networking devices requires that the seminary develop wide-ranging policies for its employees, students, and other affiliates. In the interim, it is necessary to establish basic policies to protect the Seminary's operations and legal responsibilities. These policies are of a temporary nature and will be replaced with comprehensive guidelines at the earliest opportunity.
This document does not supersede previously implemented policies. Questions of interpretation should be addressed to the Director of Systems.
It is understood by the St Vladimir's Seminary community that information security is of the utmost importance.
I. Devices owned by St Vladimir's Seminary
Devices purchased by St Vladimir's Seminary are under the stewardship of the Systems & Information Technologies (Technology) Department and are assigned to specific employees of the seminary. These assignments are not permanent and may be changed at the Technology Department's discretion. Disputes regarding assignment are resolved by the Director of Systems. In cases where agreement cannot be reached, the Director of Systems may present the matter to the Administrative Board.
Technology is responsible for the following categories of devices owned by the seminary. This list is not necessarily exhaustive:
At this time, the Technology Department is not responsible for mobile telephones, though a determination would have to be made in cases where a telephone may, in reality, be a network-capable personal digital assistant with telephone functionality (e.g., ’Äúsmartphone’Äù).
The Technology Department is solely responsible for installing and maintaining software on seminary devices. In the case of mobile devices, users may be given elevated privileges for the sake of convenience, but it is to be understood that the primary Administrator of the device is the Technology Department.
All mobile devices owned by the seminary will be turned in to the Technology Department on a regular schedule, generally once a month, for thorough security auditing.
Mobile device users are to ensure the encryption of any data stored on the device.
Mobile device users are required to take every reasonable measure to protect the physical and technological security of mobile devices.
In case of any suspected security breach, the user is directed to notify the Technology Department by the following means as soon as possible: e-mail to techsupport@svots.edu, voice telephone call to 914-961-8313 x327, and voice telephone message to the Receptionist, 914-961-8313 x0.
In the case of desktop workstations, user data is to be stored only on network shares as designated. These shares are backed up regularly by the Technology Department. Additionally, every user is required to maintain a personal backup of his or her data at least once a month.
Mobile users may store their data on local hard drives. Please contact the Technology Department for the correct procedures to follow in this case. In this case, the mobile user is responsible for maintaining weekly backups of his or her data and synchronizing the data on his or her mobile device with the appropriate network share at the earliest opportunity, generally understood to be once a week.
Mobile users are responsible for ensuring that automated update procedures, such as virus definition updates and operating system security patches are successfully applied when they are not connected directly to the seminary network.
Mobile devices, owned and operated by employees, such as PDAs or personal laptop computers, may not be connected to the seminary network without prior permission from the Technology Department. In such a case, the user is responsible for maintaining the security of the device and the regular updating of antivirus and operating system software. The policies of ResNet with regard to registration etc. (http://www.svots.edu/TechSupport/ResNet) apply to all mobile devices not owned by the seminary that are attached to the seminary network.
Wireless internet access is easy to install and convenient to use. Unfortunately, wireless devices are difficult to secure and use safely. The proliferation of wireless networking in the marketplace makes it inevitable that seminary users will attempt to install and use wireless access points and other technologies. The likelihood of interference between devices and services using wireless make it essential that wireless activities at the seminary be coordinated by the Technology Department.
No student, employee, or other user may install or use any wireless access point, router, or any other device on the physical property of St Vladimir's Seminary without written permission from the Director of Systems.
In some cases, the Technology Department may authorize the use of standard wireless access points in on-campus residences. This use is subject to restrictions on technologies used, name (SSID) given to the wireless network, proper encryption of network traffic, etc. This authorization is revocable at any time. If you would like to install a wireless access point in your on-campus residence, please write to techsupport@svots.edu with your name, residence location, and the MAC address of the device. Further instructions will be sent to you. The seminary will not authorize the use of wireless access points in the Lakeside Married Student Housing. It is the seminary's intention to provide wireless service in the majority of these facilities. Additionally, we plan to install seminary-provided wireless service in other locations on campus, particularly in the Summer of 2006. As new devices are installed, permission for personal devices will be revoked.
Wireless services are subject to the same rules and policies that govern other network services, particularly those related to ResNet. Please note that any use of wireless technology that a user provides is the responsibility of that user.
Interference or disruption of other authorized communications or unauthorized interception of other traffic is a violation of policy. In addition, because of its dependence on a scarce resource, radio communication is subject to additional rules concerning interference and shared use. Equipment must meet all applicable rules of regulatory agencies such as the FCC.
All wireless equipment must be registered, including equipment that utilizes technologies such as 802.11b, 802.11a, 2 Mbit/sec wireless, point to point microwave, 800 Mhz radios, etc. Bluetooth-enabled devices need not be registered at this time. Standard CDMA and GSM cellular telephones need not be registered at this time.
Violators of these policies will have their network access priviliges revoked and will be subject to other sudent disciplinary procedures. Your cooperation is appreciated in making network access a usable and secure shared resource.