No matter your role at Colby, information security starts with you. Listed here are several tips for managing data securely at Colby:
- Know the classification of data under your control - high, medium, or low risk. This will assist you in determining what methods of file transfer, or backups, is appropriate. The Data Classification Policy may be found by visiting the Colby Policy Library.
- Be organized - keep track of where information is stored, both on your computer and in physical form (CD/DVD, flash drive, paper copy, etc.)
- Keep institutional data off of your local device and utilize cloud based services such as Google drive or our file server filer for storing all institutional data. This reduces the risk of files being affected by malware, ransomware or accidentally misplaced.
- It is a violation of information security policy to store high- or medium-risk data on removable devices (thumb drives, external hard drive, etc).
- Use Colby's LiquidFiles service if you need to transfer high risk data to someone at Colby or outside of Colby.
- Keep institutional data off of your local device. Access data from where it normally 'lives' (the system of record) and avoid downloading it. If you must download and store high or medium risk data, utilize Colby's Google drive or file server for storing it.
- Back up your data to minimize the potential damages of loss, theft, or cyberattack.
- College-owned computer owners, ensure that central backups are being made via cloud services such as CrashPlan or to our local file server.
- The use of removable media of any kind is prohibited for institutional data backup purposes.
- Verify access permissions for the folders in which you store files with sensitive information to make sure other accounts on your computer cannot access those files.
- Securely delete documents that contain medium- and high- risk data.
- Use secure file deletion that overwrites the file, making it impossible to recover the contents. Methods of secure file deletion will vary depending on the model of hard drive and operating systems.
Stay current on institutional and technology policies. More data storage tips may be found here.