Please note that this sample policy is provided only as an example and is for reference purposes only. In many instances, your existing policies and procedures may suffice. Prior to developing a policy or adopting this sample policy, Tekmanagement strongly encourages any organization to consult with its legal counsel, accounting, financial and/or human resource professionals.
This is provided as a free resource and is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind and Tekmanagement makes no legal representation concerning the adequacy of this policy or its compliance with federal, state or local laws.
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to define standards for connecting to ____________________ network from any host. These standards are designed to minimize the potential exposure to ____________________ from damages which may result from unauthorized use of company resources. Damages include the loss of sensitive or company confidential data, intellectual property, damage to public image, damage to critical internal systems, etc.
2.0 Scope
This policy applies to all ____________________ employees, vendors and agents with a company-owned or personally-owned computer or workstation used to connect to the ___________ network. This policy applies to remote access connections used to do work on behalf of ___________, including reading or sending email and viewing intranet web resources.
Remote access implementations that are covered by this policy include, but are not limited to, dial-in modems, frame relay, ISDN, DSL, VPN, SSH, Fiber, and cable modems.
3.0 Policy
3.1 General
- It is the responsibility of ___________ employees, vendors and agents with remote access privileges to ___________’s corporate network to ensure that their remote access connection is given the same consideration as the user’s on-site connection.
- General access to the Internet for recreational use by immediate household family on personal computers that have access to the ___________ network is permitted. The employee is responsible to ensure the family member does not violate any policies, does not perform illegal activities, and does not access to the company network unless supervised by the employee. The employee bears responsibility for the consequences should the access be misused.
3.2 Requirements
- Secure remote access must be strictly controlled. Control will be enforced via one-time password authentication or public/private keys with strong pass-phrases.
- At no time should any ___________ employee provide their login or email password to anyone, not even family members.
- ___________ employees with remote access privileges must ensure that their company-owned or personal computer or workstation, which is remotely connected to ___________’s corporate network, is not connected to any other network at the same time, with the exception of personal networks that are under the complete control of the user.
- ___________ employees with remote access privileges to ___________’s corporate network must not use non-company email accounts (i.e., Outlook, Yahoo, G-Mail), or other external resources to conduct company business, thereby ensuring that official business is never confused with personal business.
- Reconfiguration of a home user’s equipment for the purpose of split-tunneling or dual homing is not permitted at any time.
- Non-standard hardware configurations must be approved by ___________, and the CTO must approve security configurations for access to hardware.
- All hosts that are connected to ___________ internal networks via remote access technologies must use the most up-to-date anti-virus software, this includes personal computers. Third party connections must comply with requirements as stated in their agreement.
- Personal equipment that is used to connect to ___________’s networks must meet the requirements of company-owned equipment for remote access.
4.0 Enforcement
Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
5.0 Definitions
Term Definition
Cable Modem: Cable companies such as AT&T Broadband provide Internet access over Cable TV coaxial cable. A cable modem accepts this coaxial cable and can receive data from the Internet at over 1.5 Mbps. Cable is currently available only in certain communities.
Dual Homing: Having concurrent connectivity to more than one network from a computer or network device. Examples include: Being logged into the Corporate network via a local Ethernet connection, and connecting into another Internet service provider (ISP). Being on a Company-provided Remote Access home network, and connecting to another network, such as a spouse’s remote access. Configuring an ISDN router to dial into ___________ and an ISP, depending on packet destination.
DSL: Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a form of high-speed Internet access competing with cable modems. DSL works over standard phone lines and supports data speeds of over 2 Mbps downstream (to the user) and slower speeds upstream (to the Internet).
ISDN: There are two flavors of Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN: BRI and PRI. BRI is used for home office/remote access. BRI has two “Bearer” channels at 64kbit (aggregate 128kb) and 1 D channel for signaling info.
Remote Access: Any access to ___________’s corporate network through a non-___________ controlled network, device, or medium.
Split-tunneling: Simultaneous direct access to a non-___________ network (such as the Internet, or a home network) from a remote device (PC, PDA, WAP phone, etc.) while connected into ___________’s corporate network via a VPN tunnel. VPN Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a method for accessing a remote network via “tunneling” through the Internet.