Computing in the Department of Mathematics
Acceptable Use Policy
Effective security is a team effort involving the participation and support of every Department of Mathematics employee who deals with information and/or information systems. It is the responsibility of every computer user to know these guidelines, and to conduct their activities accordingly.
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of computer equipment in the Department of Mathematics. These rules are in place to protect the employee and the department. Inappropriate use exposes the Department of Mathematics to risks including virus attacks, compromise of network systems and services, and legal issues.
Scope
This policy applies to employees, students, and other workers in the Department of Mathematics, including all personnel affiliated with third parties. This policy applies to all equipment that is owned or used by the department.
General Use and Ownership
While the Department of Mathematics network administration desires to provide a reasonable level of privacy, users should be aware that the data they create on department systems remains the property of the Department of Mathematics. Because of the need to protect the department's network, management cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information stored on any network device belonging to the Department of Mathematics.
For security and network maintenance purposes, authorized individuals within the Department of Mathematics may monitor equipment, systems and network traffic at any time. Computing systems personnel reserve the right to audit networks and systems on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.
Use of Department Computers for Personal Purposes
Employees are responsible for exercising good judgment regarding the reasonableness of personal use. If there is any uncertainty, employees should consult systems personnel for clarification. The Washington State University Business Policies and Procedures Manual (BPPM) provides a section on the 'Personal Use of University Resources' (BPPM Property Section, 20.37.1). The BPPM may be viewed online at http://www.wsu.edu/%7Eforms/manuals.html. Please familiarize yourself with the university's policy on personal use of university resources. You should also familiarize yourself with the WSU Electronic Publishing and Appropriate Use Policy for computers at http://www.wsu.edu/ElectronicPolicy.html. In addition, the Washington State Ethics Law covers the proper and improper use of resources. Persons are individually responsible for compliance of ethics law. Through non-compliance, serious civil penalties have been administered to individuals. You may also view the Washington State Ethics Law at http://www.wa.gov/ethics. Please realize that 'any' use of resources other than for official work use, unless approved by an agency, 'could' be construed as a violation of state ethics law.
Personal Computers
Permanent connections to the Math Department network for non-department computers is prohibited. Individuals may attach laptop computers to the Math Department network for short periods of time (for WSU business only), after registering for DHCP services with systems personnel.
Security and Proprietary Information
- Keep passwords secure and do not share accounts. Authorized users are responsible for the security of their passwords and accounts. System level passwords are frequently changed; user level passwords should be changed every six months.
- Instructions for changing your password can be found on the department website on the On_Line_Help page under 'password.'
- Create a password that is not easy to guess, does not contain personal information in it, and cannot be spelled backwards. Try using acronyms, or blend a word and a number together. Use a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
- Postings by an employee from a Department of Mathematics email address to newsgroups should contain a disclaimer stating that the opinions expressed are strictly their own and not necessarily those of the Department of Mathematics, unless posting is in the course of university duties.
- All Windows machines that are connected to the Department of Mathematics LAN, whether owned by an employee or the department, shall be continually executing approved virus-scanning software. If you have any question about this, see systems personnel.
- Employees must use extreme caution when opening e-mail attachments received from unknown senders, which may contain viruses, or Trojan horse code.
Unacceptable Use
Under no circumstances is an employee of the Department of Mathematics authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing Department of Mathematics-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.
System and Network Activities
The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:
- 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 the Department of Mathematics.
- 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 the Department of Mathematics, or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.
- Exporting
software, technical information, encryption software or technology,
in violation of international or regional export control laws, is
illegal. Computing systems personnel should be consulted prior to
export of any material that is in question.
- Introduction
of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses,
worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.).
- 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 at home.
- Using
a Department of Mathematics computing asset to actively engage in
procuring or transmitting material that is in violation of sexual
harassment or hostile workplace laws in the user's local
jurisdiction.
- Making
fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from
any Department of Mathematics account.
- Making
statements about warranty, expressly or implied, unless it is a part
of normal job duties.
- Effecting
security breaches or disruptions of network communication. Security
breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which
the employee is not an intended recipient or logging into a server
or account that the employee 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, ping floods, packet spoofing,
denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious
purposes.
- Port
scanning or security scanning is expressly prohibited.
- Executing
any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not
intended for a Department of Mathematics host, unless this activity
is a part of the employee's normal job/duty.
- Circumventing
user authentication or security of any host, network or account.
- Interfering
with or denying service to any user other than the employee's host
(for example, denial of service attack).
- Using
any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, with
the intent to interfere with, or disable, a user's terminal session,
via any means, locally or via the Internet or Intranet.
- Providing
information about, or lists of, Department of Mathematics employees
to parties outside the Department of Mathematics.
- Sending
unsolicited email messages, including the sending of "junk
mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not
specifically request such material (email spam).
- Any
form of harassment via email, telephone or paging, whether through
language, frequency, or size of messages.
- Unauthorized
use, or forging, of email header information.
- Solicitation
of email for any other email address, other than that of the
poster's account, with the intent to harass or to collect replies.
- Creating
or forwarding chain letters or other
pyramid schemes of any type.
- Use
of unsolicited email originating from within the Department of
Mathematics networks.
- Posting
the same or similar non-business-related messages to large numbers
of newsgroups (newsgroup spam).
Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
General Information
Changing Passwords
Change your password after you receive it. Change it on both Linux and Windows machines.
Linux Machines:
- Type:
kinit ;enter; then type: kpasswd new password
-
Follow the instructions by typing a new password. Confirm it.
Windows Machines:
- On
any Windows machine, log in, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
and then click on the 'Change Password button.'
Linux Machines
You may access Linux from your office computer or the Newton Computing Lab (room 101W). All Linux machines have Matlab and Maple installed on them as well as word processing (Open Office), image processing (Gimp) and a browser.
Windows Machines
To access Windows from a Linux machine type, 'winnt' in a terminal window. This connects you to the NTMATH domain. If you cannot log in, please see systems personnel to have an account set up in that domain. Windows computers do not run Matlab or Maple.
The Math Forum
If
you have a computer question, problem, or request, regardless of
whether it has to do with Windows or Linux, do
not send email directly to systems personnel.
Instead,
log onto the Math Forum (see systems personnel for the URL) and post a problem or question under 'Questions.'
Make sure you provide a thorough description of a problem.
Your question or problem will be addressed.
Please use the Forum to reserve equipment such as laptops and projectors.
If you reserve equipment make sure to include the date(s) for which you would like the reservation, the time, and the location.
The request will be assigned to a systems individual for
resolution.
Computing System News
Our systems are constantly changing and evolving to stay abreast of technology. As a general rule, we will not send announcements about system changes so that users aren't innundated with information. It is your responsibility to check the Math Forum site to learn of computing changes within the department.
Logging Off
Linux Machines
When you have finished using a department computer, log off, but do not shut it down. Turn off the monitor. If you are a TA in the Newton Lab, tell students to log out of computers but to never press the 'power/ off' button.
Windows Machines
Virus updates and scans are run on Windows machines every night. If the machine is turned off, it will not have the most updated virus protection available.
Printing
Network printers are available on each floor and department computers may access them. See systems personnel if you find that you do not have access to a pritner. If you use a network printer over a weekend you must not unlock the door to a printing closet and leave it either open, or unlocked. You must make sure the printer door is securely locked when not in use. The department has had printer theft in the past.
To print a file, type: lpr -P(the printer name) the filename
Printer Name Location
hpr0 (Room 3)
hpr1 (1st floor)
hpr2 (2nd floor)
hpr3 (3rd floor)
ntbwpr (Room 3)
mlabhp (Newton Lab)
rm120pr (Room 120)
ntcolorpr (Room 120)
You may, or may not, have a local printer connected to your computer. You may use the following command to print to a local printer.
lp0 -Plp0 filename
As a department employee you are given an email address of your_login_name@math.wsu.edu. This email address is placed in a centralized email distribution list for the department, which is maintained by systems personnel. We strongly recommend that you use the math department email address as your primary email account. Should you choose a different email address, it then becomes your responsibility to place it in your /usr1/login_name/.forward file, and maintain it. All of your @math.wsu.edu email will forward to that address. Make sure you can access it from within the department. Again, we recommend that you use the email address we provide.
Computing personnel provide email support for Seamonkey and Pine email. You may use a different email program but we will not provide support for it.
Pine
You may use the Pine program on Linux machines, if you wish. Log on and type "pine". If you have difficulty with this, Pine may not be installed on that machine and you will need to contact systems personnel.
Setting up Email
Set the POP server to be pihat.math.wsu.edu.
Set the SMTP server to be foraker.math.wsu.edu.
Test the email configuration by sending an email to yourself.
See systems personnel if you have difficulty with this.
Email Attachments
Never open an attachment that has an odd extension name after its filename, such as .exe, .src, .pif, .zip, .com, .vbs, and so on. Such odd extension names are usually executable applications that install a virus. Delete a questionable attachment rather than open it. If you have a question about any attachment, ask systems personnel to look at the filename before you open it. Never open an attachment from an individual you don't know. Faculty and staff in the department have learned over time not to open suspicious looking attachments and some faculty have even gone as far as never opening attachments.
Remote Access
You may log into math computers from anywhere inside the department. If you wish to log into a machine when you are outside of the department, you mush ssh (secure shell) to log into thetahat.math.wsu.edu. Information on how to do so may be found on the Math website under Computer Services -> On-Line-Help -> SSH. No other department machine is open to the outside world. Thetahat also runs ftp for some sites outside the department. We prefer that you use scp ('secure copy'), or sftp ('secure ftp') for file transfer. Please contact Kevin Cooper about accessing thetahat from outside the department.
Web Directory
You will not automatically receive a web site on the department Web server. One will be provided upon request. State policy requires that you restrict your use of this to university business.
On-Line Help
On-line help is available for users at: http://www.math.wsu.edu/math/helpdesk/on_line_help
Obtaining a WSU Network ID, WSU Email Account, or AIS Account
A network ID is a free service provided to students, faculty and staff of WSU. It is used by students to check on-line registration, among other things, and is used by faculty and staff to check such things as on-line payroll information. You may set up a WSU Network ID through the WSU Information Technology website.
Contact the WSU IT Helpdesk to set up a WSU email account (remember, we prefer that you use the email account we assign to you and we suggest you forward WSU mail to it). Students may contact the WSU IT Helpdesk at 335-4357, and faculty/staff may call 335-5396 for help.
If you are a faculty or staff member who needs access to AIS, the university's central computing system, you must contact the Math Departments administrative manager who will submit a 'Network Services Account Request' (form 85.37.5) and a 'Procedure Number Application' (form 85.35.3). If you have questions about the procedure, you may view procedures outlined in the WSU Business and Policies Procedure Manual (BPPM) under section 85.37 at http://www.wsu.edu/~forms/PDF/BPPM/01.02_Comprehensive_Table_of_Contents_PDF.htm. You may also contact IT (335-0495) for more information.
Changing Office Phone Jacks
If you are a faculty or staff member and need to have a phone in an office moved to a different wall jack, please contact administrative staff. Computing personnel do not handle office phone requests.
Departure from the Department
Upon your departure from the department, your math accountant will be deleted. It is your responsibility to contact systems personnel if you need to make other arrangements. You may do so by using the Math Forums site.
Revised 02/22/08