Directive
All use of the Shepherd network, including using it to access Internet resources, must be via authenticated, named-user accounts. Anonymous access via the Shepherd network to the Internet is not allowed.
Campus community members (i.e., people having a direct relationship with Shepherd University who are not employees or students, such as Shepherd Foundation members, CATF employees, or volunteers) may request transient named-user accounts for Internet access with the following requirements:
– The applicant must have a Shepherd University sponsor (faculty or staff member).
– The applicant, when approved, will have Internet access only; no internal resources may
be accessed.
– The applicant’s temporary account is valid for no more than 30 days.
– The request must be made no later than two weeks prior to the account being needed.
Rationale
Federal laws (e.g. the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, CALEA) require us to be able to log all voice communications crossing our Internet connection and tie them to individual users for wiretapping purposes. The growing popularity of voice communications over the Internet (VOIP) has made this requirement a particular concern for law enforcement agencies.
Shepherd University is not required to comply with certain CALEA provisions if it maintains a private network, such as by requiring authentication for all network access. Furthermore, information security best practices call for having the ability to associate network traffic with individual named users.
Besides tracking any potential illegal activities, this allows us to more efficiently help people when they experience network connectivity issues. A separate IT Services guideline governs retention of network traffic logs. Logs are purged periodically in accordance with that internal guideline, unless a court order supersedes it.