Why have acceptable use policy

Learn exactly why your company needs an AUP, even if you are just a small company with a handful of employees. Typically, these policies cover:. Now that you have a refresher on what goes into an acceptable use policy, review why it is critical that you have one — even if you are a small business. The acceptable use policy protects your business from any legal actions, while clearly communicating to employees your expectations regarding their behavior.

It is far better to lay out acceptable usage and get employees on board early than to have to backpedal if something goes wrong. In a worst-case scenario, a staff member could introduce malware into the office environment visiting a site that would have been blacklisted — if you had an AUP in place. An AUP may limit your liability around illegal file sharing.

If your staff download ebooks, music, or video files from an illegal site, your business may be legally liable for this behavior. Likewise, Customers or Users are precluded from transmitting on the Digital Realty Network: 1 unsolicited informational announcements; 2 chain mail; 3 numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages; 4 empty messages; or 5 messages which contain no substantive content.

Use of the service of another provider to send unsolicited commercial e-mail, spam, or mail-bombs, to promote a site hosted on or connected to the Digital Realty Network, is similarly prohibited. You and your Users will not access any Usenet newsgroups via any network other than the Digital Realty Network. Without notice to you, and at any time, Digital Realty may add, remove, or modify Usenet newsgroups or services and may modify or restrict the bandwidth available to download content from Usenet newsgroups.

Digital Realty may, in its sole discretion, rely upon information obtained from anti-spamming organizations including, for example and without limitation, spamhaus. Continued posting of off-topic messages, including commercial messages unless specifically invited is prohibited. If Digital Realty receives complaints directly from Internet users, through Internet organizations and through other parties, Digital Realty shall not be required to determine the validity of complaints received, or of information obtained from anti-spamming organizations, before taking action under this AUP.

A complaint from the recipient of commercial e-mail, whether received directly, or through an anti-spamming organization, shall be evidence that the message was unsolicited. Digital Realty has no obligation to forward the complaint to the Customer or User, or to identify the complaining parties. Digital Realty does not make any promise, nor does Digital Realty have any obligation, to monitor or police activity occurring using the Services and will have no liability to any party, including a Customer and User, for any violation of the AUP.

Company shall not be obligated to monitor or exercise any editorial control over any material stored, copied, or communicated using the Services or the Digital Realty Network, but reserves the right to do so. Company further reserves the right to conduct investigations into fraud, violations of the terms of this AUP or other laws or regulations, and to cooperate with legal authorities and third parties in the investigation of alleged wrongdoing, including disclosing the identity of the user that Company deems responsible for the wrongdoing.

Digital Realty will cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies and other parties involved in investigating claims of illegal or inappropriate activity. Digital Realty reserves the right to disclose Customer and User information to the extent authorized or required by federal or state law.

In instances involving child pornography, Digital Realty will comply with all applicable federal and state laws, including providing notice to the National Center for the Missing and Exploited Children or other designated agencies. By accepting and using the Services and allowing Users to use the Services, Customer consents to allowing Company to collect service information and routing information in the normal course of its business, and to use such information for general business purposes.

Customers and Users agree to immediately notify Digital Realty of any unauthorized use of their accounts or any other breach of security known to you. Digital Realty shall not be liable for any damage caused by such system configurations regardless of whether such configurations have been authorized or requested by Digital Realty.

If you would like a copy of an Acceptable Use template, help creating your AUP or more information on how Pivotal IT can help keep your network and data secure, don't hesitate to contact us. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pivotal IT with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Breach Protection. Cloud Computing. Technology Support. About Pivotal IT. Home ». The questions below can provide a good starting point when creating your policy: When is it OK to send information outside the enterprise via e-mail, blogs and message boards, media sharing and instant messages - When is it not?

As you create your AUP be sure to: Have an understanding of what records and data are vital to the survival of your organization and the internal and external forces that can affect them.

Create policies that consider business assets, processes and employee access to files and data. Evaluate security measures physical and network-related and potential solutions. Monitor and enforce policy via security technology and human oversight. Adopting an acceptable use policy not only reduces your vulnerabilities, but it also boosts employee efficiency and productivity.

Adopting an acceptable use policy could mean the difference between employee compliance and negligent online behavior. Giving your employees a top-of-the-line mobile device, shiny new workstation, or a sleek new laptop is a part of life for small to medium sized business owners.

Most employees will never knowingly engage in risky online behaviors, but there is always the chance that their online presence will open doors for a hacker to enter your network. Adopting an acceptable use policy ensures that your employees use their company-issued devices for work rather than shopping the best online deals, watching cat videos on You Tube, or visiting sites that place your network at risk.

An acceptable use policy reminds your employees that, while working, online activities may be monitored. In other words, your teams become aware that, while using company-issued devices, their activities are not necessarily private. Special precautions should be taken to protect your network, devices, and your Wi-Fi connections from unintentional employee negligence.