General Security Policy

Internet Access Policy

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  Communication between employees and non-employees for business purposes.
  
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  IT technical support downloading software upgrades and patches.
  
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  Review of possible vendor web sites for product information.
  
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  Reference regulatory or technical information.
  
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  Research.
  
  
  

Other specific activities that are strictly prohibited include but are not limited to:

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  Accessing confidential information that is not within the scope of one's work.
  
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  Misusing, disclosing without proper authorization, or altering company or personnel information.
  
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  Any unauthorized, deliberate action that damages or disrupts computing systems or networks, alters their normal performance, or causes them to malfunction regardless of location or duration.
  
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  Willful or negligent introduction of computer viruses, trojan horses or other destructive programs into company systems or networks or into external systems and networks.
  
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  Unauthorized decryption or attempt at decryption of any system or user passwords or any other user's encrypted files.
  
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  Packet sniffing, packet spoofing, or use of any other means to gain unauthorized access to a computing system or network.
  
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  Use, transmission, duplication, or voluntary receipt of material that infringes on the copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, or patent rights of any person or organization.
  
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  Unauthorized downloading of any shareware programs or files for use without authorization in advance from the IT Department and the user's manager.
  
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  Any conduct that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, lead to civil liability, or otherwise violate any regulations, local, state, national or international law including without limitations US export control laws and regulations.
  
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  Deliberate pointing or hyper-linking of the company Web sites to other Internet/WWW sites whose content may be inconsistent with or in violation with the aims or policies of the company.
  
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  Transmission of any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise sensitive information without the proper controls.
  
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  Acquisition, storage, dissemination, creation, posting, transmission, or voluntary receipt of any unlawful, offensive, libelous, threatening, harassing material, including but not limited to comments based on race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or political beliefs.
  
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  Any ordering (shopping) of items or services on the Internet.
  
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  Playing of any games.
  
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  Forwarding of chain letters.
  
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  Participation in on-line contest, forms of gambling or accepting of promotional gifts.