A method of protecting computers and their data while making them more
reliable and providing better support.
This policy has been adopted by the President’s Cabinet to support a full
suite of administrative software applications in a cost effective and
efficient manner while enhancing security and reliability, by limiting the
number of administrative (non-academic) users that have the capability to
install software and or modify system files. This policy does not apply to
faculty or their staff.
Administrative Computer Configuration Policy
Installation of software on college owned administrative computers shall be
limited to a College standard configuration and other software necessary for
the performance of the employee’s job. This shall be determined in
consultation with the employee and her/his supervisor. Installation and
support of all software will be the responsibility of the Administrative
Computer Services staff. All computers purchased after the approval of this
policy and those being upgraded to the MS2000, XP or later operating systems
will be secured with the College’s standard software configuration and any
other software deemed necessary for job performance after consultation with
the employee and supervisor.
Rationale
Installation of software is the second leading cause of virus propagation
second only to email. Viruses pose a serious security threat and
unnecessarily burden computer support staff. A policy backed up by
appropriate procedures will dramatically improve security and reliability by
reducing the number of rogue applications (i.e. games, Kazaa, instant
messaging, etc.) being installed by end users.
This policy will set forth the mechanisms by which data stored on
College-owned computing systems and utilized by College employees and
students is more secure and better protected.
This policy will promote that:
- The College can meet its record-keeping and reporting obligations as
required by state and federal law, and local campus policies.
- The College can comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
of 1974 (FERPA - the Buckley Amendment), HIPPA, and other statutes and
policies protecting the rights of individuals.
- The College can consistently maintain data integrity and accuracy.
The College can assure that authorized individuals have timely and
reliable access to necessary data and unauthorized individuals are denied
access to computing resources.
Standard Configuration (as of January 2003)
Office XP (Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Front Page, Publisher),
Explorer (Internet Browser), Outlook (e-mail client), Adobe Acrobat (PDF
file reader), WINQVT (terminal emulation), Banner (administrative student
database), Antivirus software (currently Sophos), FTP (file transfer
application), Real Player, Quicktime, Shockwave, Plug-ins (view web pages
that use multimedia, synch of PDA’s, etc.) This standard configuration may
be modified by Computing Services as College needs and software options
evolve in the future.
Exceptions
A supervisor may at his or her discretion request that an individual machine
be given less restrictive privileges. For example the use of certain
applications may require an end-user to have full unrestricted access. Prior
to making this decision supervisors should be aware of the risks, and act in
a way to protect the information resources of the College.
Additional software can be requested by a supervisor and will be installed
by administrative computing staff to ensure the computer continues to
function consistent with established best practices.
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