CS Computing Services Security Policy FAQ

CS Grads, CS faculty desktops

Can I manage (have full administrator access, and full responsibility for) my desktop?: Yes, as long as you abide by the University Eligibility and Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology (EAUP).

On a machine I manage, can I get access to my home directory?: Not through NFS. You can use smb via a ssh tunnel however.

Can I give others accounts on my self managed box?: Yes, as long as you abide by the EAUP.

What can I do with my self managed box?: Anything, as long as you abide by the EAUP.

Will you open a port on all the linux machines?: No.
Will you open many ports on one machine?: No.
Will you open one or a few ports on one machine?: Usually. We would like to know what service you are running, and may deny this request if we know the service has a bad history.

Can I ssh into a techstaff managed departmental server?: No. (Except login servers, of course)
Can I be an administrator for a service, or have special privileges, for a departmental service?: You can if you are the primary customer of the service, i.e. if we are accountable only to you in event of a service failure.
Can my students directly connect to some departmental service from the Internet, other than http or sshd, such as the instructional mySQL or Sybase services?: If the service is intended only for CS account holders, then no. This is "Least privilege". They can connect directly after establishing ssh tunnels, or by using the University's VPN.

Can I get a box set up for my class, and allow students to access its services directly from the Internet?: Yes, if this service is limited in time, like for the duration of the class. No NFS home directories.
Can I be administrator of my service, or have some special privileges, if you manage my machine?: Other than root, Yes
Can I have root on my computer?: Yes, if you manage the OS.
Can I run random web services?: Yes, but no NFS home directories.
Can other users connect from the Internet to non ssh or http services, such as MySQL?: Yes, but no NFS home directories.

I'm not CS faculty or CS graduate student. Can I run off-the-shelf cgi on your cgi server?: No, unless you have a CS faculty sponsor.
How about hand-coded cgi?: Yes, but you must register.
I am a CS faculty or CS graduate student. How about me?: You may run off-the-shelf cgi, but it must run on our isolated server, and you must register.

I'm a CS faculty, or have one as a sponsor. I have a CNET account. Can I put my box in your machine room?: Yes.
I have a CS faculty sponsor, but no CNET account. Can I put my box in your machine room?: Subject to NSIT approval. Subject to quick disconnection from the network if problems are detected.