Electronic Mail and Messaging Procedures
University email shall be used to enhance and facilitate teaching, learning, scholarly research and to aid in the effective business and administrative processes of the University. Responsible stewardship of these resources shall be practiced at all times. These procedures are intended to assist California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) students, faculty and staff in understanding the importance of exercising safe emailing standards within the Internet community.
All users (units, organizations, individuals) operating on behalf of the University must adhere to these guidelines when communicating through email. Users are expected to comply with all applicable laws and university policies affecting the use of email and related systems.
Monitoring
Responsible Use of Information Technology Resources Policy - Section B
- Email should be avoided as a means of communicating confidential or sensitive material. Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. It is against university policy for system administrators to monitor the contents of files or messages unless necessary to preserve either system integrity or continued email delivery. CSUCI may monitor messages without prior notice. CSUCI is not obliged to monitor email messages. Email messages are stored on system backups and may be retained for periods of time at a secure location.
- The University reserves the right to scan or filter incoming attachments. To protect the University community from harm, certain file extensions have been filtered. For an updated list of these file extensions please refer to the List of Filtered File Types.
- When sending mail both internally or externally, a limit of 10 MB is set for outgoing mail. This limit is to protect the system from overuse, mass mailing viruses, and denial of service (DOS) attacks. A maximum size of 500 MB is used as a strict guideline to mailbox size. This practice will reduce abuse to the CSUCI mail system. Archiving emails is permitted and encouraged to reduce mailbox size.
Prohibited Use
Responsible Use of Information Technology Resources Policy - Section C
- The CSUCI email system shall not to be used for the creation or distribution of any disruptive or offensive messages, including offensive comments about race, gender, hair color, disabilities, age, sexual orientation, pornography, religious beliefs and practice, political beliefs, or national origin. Employees who receive any emails with this content from any CSUCI employee should report the matter to their supervisor immediately.
- Initiating or forwarding chain letters or joke emails from a CSUCI email account is prohibited. Virus or other malware warnings and mass mailings from CSUCI shall be approved by the Manager of Information Technology Services before sending. These restrictions also apply to the forwarding of mail received by a CSUCI employee.
- Altering electronic communications to hide one's identity or to impersonate another individual is considered misrepresentation and/or forgery and is a violation of both state and federal law. All email, news posts, chat sessions, or any other form of electronic communication must contain the sender's real name and/or email address.
Enforcement
Responsible Use of Information Technology Resources Policy - Section D
- Any employee found in violation could be subject to criminal prosecution, civil prosecution, administrative action, and/or loss of some or all computing privileges.
Glossary
Term |
Definition |
Email |
The electronic transmission of information through a mail protocol such as SMTP or IMAP. Typical email clients include Eudora and Microsoft Outlook. |
Forwarded email |
Email resent from an internal network to an outside point. |
Chain email or letter |
Email sent to successive people. Typically the body of the note has direction to send out multiple copies of the note and promises good luck or money if the direction is followed. |
Sensitive information |
Information is considered sensitive if it can be damaging to CSUCI or its customers' reputation or market standing. |
Virus warning |
Email containing warnings about virus or malware. The overwhelming majority of these emails turn out to be a hoax and contain bogus information usually intent only on frightening or misleading users. |
Unauthorized Disclosure |
The intentional or unintentional revealing of restricted information to people, both inside and outside CSUCI, who do not have a need to know that information. |
List of Filtered File Types
The following list represents the file types and file names which are filtered by the CSUCI email system:
*.abd
*.bad
*.cmd
*.dbx
*.dot
*.exe
*.hta
*.myparty.*.*
*.pi
*.pif
*.scr
*.tbb
*.vbs
*.wab
*}
anniv.doc
c:\windows\system\angela.exe
document.scr.txt
document.zip
message.zip
myjuliet.chm
school violence.evaluation.doc
supple.doc
untitled.htm
your_details.zip
