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Working securely: Changes to how devices are managed

Find out more about changes to how devices are managed and how University systems are accessed. 

Why are we making changes?

Our institutional responsibilities for managing information and data security have become more stringent and compliance is an issue for us all. At the same time, the scale and sophistication of criminal and malicious cyber-activity is increasing.

We need to meet these challenges as an organisation and as individuals. Most members of staff handle sensitive student and staff information of some kind or another and we do so using a wide range of devices and from many different locations. In the current Covid-19 situation, with many of us working from home, there are likely to be greater risks of compromising sensitive data. We must ensure we have the tools and support needed to meet our data management responsibilities.

What are the changes and how will they affect me?

Over the coming months, we will be:

  • introducing a set of technical changes that will both protect our data and provide tools and services for individuals to manage data more securely.
  • changing the types and configuration of devices that can access sensitive data.

If you work with sensitive data, and you work from home or use a personal or self-managed computer, then you may need to make some changes to the configuration of the device you use. In some cases you may need to ask for a University-supplied device.

What do I need to do?

This depends on how your computer is currently set up. If you are using an IT Services managed computer, you don’t need to do anything – except regularly connect via the VPN to get updates – and leave the rest to ITS.

If you are using an unmanaged or self-managed computer, you should consider moving to a managed computer, if and when it becomes possible. This will take the hassle and worry out of meeting the minimum security specifications that are due to be implemented.

We will contact users of unmanaged or self-managed devices that have accessed University systems to ask you to enrol these devices in our security management service. Alongside this, we will conduct a wide communications campaign to cover devices for which we’ve been unable to identify a specific user.

As the project progresses, all devices will need to meet minimum security specifications to access University data – and this is scheduled to develop over the next 6 to 9 months. Any device that does not meet the minimum security specifications after this time will be unable to access a number of University systems. Support and help will be available to enable users to configure their devices to regain access. It is therefore very important that you do not ignore emails or other communications about this change as the project progresses.

In summary

Use a University managed laptop if you can

When working from home, use a University owned and managed computer if you can. If you have to use a self-managed computer or a personal device, check IT Services advice on working from home during the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak or contact the IT Services Helpdesk.

Secure your devices and data

Keep anything with professional or personal data on it secure at all times - things like laptops, tablets, phones. Secured devices, locked screens and encrypted drives reduce the risk of anything being lost or stolen.

Keep your work backed up

The safest place to store your files is in Office 365 (OneDrive, Sharepoint, Teams), your Warwick shared drive or H: Drive. These drives are backed-up to keep information secure.

Communicate securely

If you need to share data with colleagues, please use the secure messaging within Office 365 and Teams or online document sharing system. If you have to share data by email outside the University, consider password protecting documents and sharing the passwords via text.

This information and more about the project is available from the IT Services project page on the Device Security Hub.

If in doubt, always contact the IT Services Helpdesk.