SECURITY MESSAGE TO BE ADDED TO COMPUTER SYSTEM
During the week of Jan. 8, Old Dominion will implement a change to the procedure for all faculty and staff computer account log-ins.
When the control + alt + delete key combination is pressed, the system will display the following security message which must be acknowledged before the log-in process will continue: "This Old Dominion University system may be used only for authorized purposes. Unauthorized modification of the information stored on this system may result in criminal prosecution. Your usage of this system implies consent to monitoring/auditing."
According to Rusty Waterfield, director of communications and networking services for the Office of Computing and Communications Services, the primary purpose of the security message is to post an electronic "No Trespassing" sign for outside intruders who may attempt to access the university's computer systems. He added, "The intent is to protect the
integrity of the data stored on university systems, which includes a significant amount of scientific research and other proprietary information."
The text of the message is pulled from the Acceptable Usage Statement signed by all university faculty, staff and students prior to obtaining any account for accessing the Old Dominion's computer systems.
The display and required acknowledgement of a log-on security message was recommended by both the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to help protect the university's right to prosecute computer system intruders. Similar recommendations were made to many other universities, particularly those located in critical geographic areas that are potential targets for
subversive activity. Both the university's general counsel and the data security administrator have endorsed Old Dominion's implementation of the recommended security message.
Detailed information regarding "authorized purposes" of Old Dominion's computing resources is available on the university's Policies and Procedures Web page. A link is provided under the Procedures and Guidelines section of the Faculty and Staff page at web.odu.edu/home/faculty.html.
Questions or concerns regarding the log-on security message may be e-mailed to occshelp@odu.edu.