MSU provides guidelines for handling, securing institutional data

MSU’s Institutional Data Policy (IDP) holds every member of the university community individually responsible for the appropriate use and protection of institutional data, and especially of confidential data, in their possession or control.

A first step to securing institutional data is increasing awareness about institutional data and confidential data.

• Employee Guide
• Administrator & Supervisor Guide
• MSU Institutional Data Policy

Confidential data needs to be stored only on a secured server. If you need to access confidential data, connect to the secured MSU server. Don’t store copies of confidential data on laptops, desktops, smartphones, or portable devices (e.g., USB drives).

Don’t access content containing sensitive information on unsecured mobile devices.

Emailing data

Be careful about who you email data to you and how you send it. Avoid sending confidential data electronically.

Only send sensitive information on a need-to-know basis. Don’t send separate types of personally-identifiable data that in combination are confidential (e.g., name and student identification number).

Encrypt sensitive email before sending. The mail.msu.edu system uses the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to protect data and authentication while in transit internally. However, traffic and data outside of the msu.edu domain is unencrypted.