Responsible Office: Information Technology
Purpose: To ensure that all members of the Ashesi community with access to the institution’s internet and other local servers or networks abide by institutional standards of monitoring, security and appropriate usage.

Scope: This policy applies to all Ashesi University faculty, staff, students, vendors/contractors, guest account holders, and any other agents who may connect to Ashesi University network computing resources.  This policy also applies to all devices which are used by those individuals for network access, whether personally owned, university issued or otherwise obtained.  These devices include but are not limited to workstations, laptops, tablets, smartphones, servers, consoles, controllers, and any other computing device which is capable of communicating on Ashesi’s networks.

This policy is intended to protect the integrity of the campus network, to mitigate the risks and losses associated with security threats to computing resources and to ensure secure and reliable network access and performance for the University community.  This policy is necessary to provide a reliable campus network to conduct the University’s business and prevent unauthorized access to institutional, research or personal data.  In addition, the University has a legal responsibility to secure its computers and networks from misuse.

1. Ashesi University faculty, staff or students may not connect, nor contract with an outside vendor to connect, any device or system to the University’s networks without the prior review and approval from the Director of IT or the COO. Where possible Ashesi has automated tools to help monitor and ensure that network and computer resources provided are properly used and taken care of.
2. Departments that wish to provide Internet or other network access to individuals or networks not directly affiliated with the University must obtain prior approval from the Support Centre. In order to maintain reliable network connectivity, no other department may deploy switches, bridges, and/or DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) services on campus without prior review and approval from the Support Centre.
3. Users are not permitted to share passwords, leave devices (personal or institution owned) unattended to; reply to spam email; copy software or data belonging to Ashesi University; and/or unplug network, VGA, power cables or any other cable in any of the labs or in any office.
4. Users are permitted to attach devices to the network provided that they:
   – are for use with normal University business or student operations
   – do not interfere with other devices on the network
   – are in compliance with all other Ashesi University policies.
5. Unauthorized access to University networking equipment (firewalls, routers, switches, etc.) is prohibited.  This includes port scanning or connection attempts using applications such as SSH/SNMP, or otherwise attempting to interact with University network equipment.
6. Unauthorized access to University equipment/cabling rooms is also prohibited

Enforcement

1. Any device found to be in violation of this policy or found to be causing problems that may impair or disable the network or systems connected to it, is subject to immediate disconnection from the University’s network. Ashesi University’s IT team may subsequently require specific security improvements where potential security problems are identified before the device may be reconnected.
2. Attempting to circumvent security or administrative access controls for information resources is a violation of this policy.
3. Assisting someone else or requesting someone else to circumvent security or administrative access controls is a violation of this policy.
4. The University reserves the right to test and monitor security, and to copy or examine files and information resident on university systems related to any alleged security incident or policy violation.

(With Adaptations from Villanova University)