Best Practices in Electronic Communication

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Best Practices in Electronic Communication

• Miles J. Postema, Deputy General Counsel
• James C. Cook, Director of Technical Services,
  IST
  
• Summer University 2005
• Ferris State University

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Best Practices in Electronic Communication in a
Digital Environment

• or
• How to avoid committing malpractice with your
  computer

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Use the Internet to stay abreast of

• Substantive changes to your area
• Technology

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Theft Risk

• Over 2,000 computers are stolen every day
• A computer is reported stolen every 43 seconds
• One out of 14 laptops is either lost or stolen
• Approximately 57 of corporate crimes are linked
  to stolen laptops

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Effect of PDAs and/or Notebook Computers

• PDAs and laptops can contain nearly your entire
  workload.
  
• Extremely light and portable as well as
  marketable
  
• Use passwords for third party documents to
  encrypt and protect the data contained in PDAs or
  notebook computers

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E-Mail

• Get over the idea that e-mail is new or novel
• Think about e-mail as correspondence
• Learn ways to change your internal procedures so
  that you work with e-mail in a similar way to
  paper correspondence
  
• E-mail is generally not managed the same way as
  paper correspondence some never makes it to the
  paper file
  
• Develop the internal procedures to manage it
  properly
  
• E-mail software that most of us use is focused on
  the individual user
  
• E-mail comes into a personal inbox and not a
  central location in your office
  
• It is up to the individual that received the
  e-mail to forward it to the correct person

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RAFT System

• While RAFT was developed for paper it can also
  work for e-mail
  
• Refer it to someone else for further action
  (forward it)
  
• Act on the contents (answer it or create an
  entry)
  
• File it away because it is for reference (you
  want to find it when you need it)
  
• Toss it. Delete it right away because you do not
  need it

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Effectively Managing E-Mail

• Read and delete
• Respond if it takes less than a given number of
  minutes
  
• If it will take more than given number of minutes
  turn it into a task or appointment
  
• File e-mail that needs to be kept up (paper and
  electronic)

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Protect your Passwords

• Choose your passwords carefully
• Dont use personal information
• Dont use the same password on different systems
• Never share personal passwords
• Dont write them down they will be found by
  others

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Good Passwords

• Will be at least six to ten characters in length
• Have one or more capital letters
• Have one or more lower case letters
• Include one or more numbers
• Include one or more special characters
• Be a short phrase

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E-Mail is Not Secure

• E-mail passes through many computers and networks
  leaving many opportunities for it to be read
  
• Confidential information can easily be
  accidentally or intentionally compromised
  
• Administrators and hackers can access incoming
  and outgoing e-mail
  
• Viruses are most commonly spread through e-mail
  attachments
  
• Never send passwords, social security numbers,
  credit card numbers via e-mail
  
• Dont open unexpected attachments even if from
  coworkers or other trusted sources

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Unreliable E-mail

• Dont assume it got there if it doesnt bounce
• Dont assume that a delivery receipt will come
  back or be valid
  
• If you want an acknowledgement ask the recipient
  (in the e-mail) to acknowledge receipt
  
• Dont respond badly because you assume you have
  been ignored

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Develop Good E-mail Habits

• Dont send an OK or Thanks e-mail unless you need
  to
  
• Think about ending your e-mail with no reply
  needed
  
• Provide a clear subject line
• Where helpful include the full thread of the
  conversation
  
• Be professional/business like in your e-mail
  communication
  
• Spelling and punctuation
• Signature/address block at the end
• Misdirected e-mail use of disclaimer

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Computer Security Basics

• Install and use anti-virus programs
• Keep your system patched and updated
• Use care when reading e-mail with attachments
• Make backups of important files and folders
• Use strong passwords
• Use care when downloading and installing programs

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What about Instant Messaging

• Everything that applies to E-mail applies to IM
• Never use IM to send any confidential or private
  information
  
• IM creates storage and file maintenance issues

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Get Firefox

• More secure than Explorer
• Automatically blocks pop-ups
• Tabbed browsing feature
• Free
• Some universities require users to use Firefox

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Spam is Here to Stay

• CAN-SPAM
• Enacted in 2004 but it is largely ineffective
• Has not reduced the amount of spam
• Several verdicts and convictions

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How to Make Yourself a Magnet for Spam

• Unsubscribing to unsolicited e-mails
• Registering at questionable sites
• Posting on newsgroups and bulletin boards
• Displaying e-mail addresses on your website

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How to Rid Yourself of Some Spam

• Dont communicate with spammers
• Use caution when using your e-mail address
  online
  
• Postema(at)ferris(dot)edu
• Choose a spam-resistant e-mail address
• First initial/last name will slow down dictionary
  attacks
  
• Made-up name e-mail address

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Beware of Metadata

• Data about data or information about information
• Electronic information within a document or other
  computer file
  
• Ordinarily created automatically by the software
• Often not easily accessible by the user

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Examples of Metadata

• Dates an e-mail was sent, comments, and e-mail
  threads
  
• Entire set of changes and revisions or deletions
  in document, including history of original
  document used as a form
  
• Dates of file creation, changes, revisions, file
  name, location, configuration, person or persons
  drafting, using, or accessing the file
  
• Text deleted by simple deletions, track changes,
  document comments or document version features

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What Does Metadata Look Like?

• Examples
• Within the properties of the document
• Within actual file data

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Dangers of Leaving Metadata in a Document

• Disclosure of confidential information
• Example text deleted from earlier draft or
  version of document
  
• Likely unintentional or accidental

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How to Eliminate Metadata

• Turn fast save feature off
• Select tabs
• Tools
• Options
• Save
• And then uncheck Allow Fast Saves

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Metadata Strippers

• Metadata Assistant from Payne Consulting
  www.payneconsulting.com
  
• Workshare Metawall from Workshare
  www.workshare.com
  
• Version of Bill Coans field sniffer and remover
  program http//woodyswatch.com/util/sniff/
  
• Send as PDF file or rich text format

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Disclaimers and Unintended Relationships

• Disclaimers on e-mail and websites

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Best Practices in Backups

• Do full backups
• Do backups daily
• Review backup log
• Regulate text restorers
• Identify off site storage location
• Dont forget data on desktops, laptops, and PDAs

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Best Practice in Internet Security

• Run antivirus software
• Does your company network have a connection to
  the Internet, if so
  
• You must protect yourself from hackers with a
  properly configured firewall
  
• Internet and e-mail use by you and your staff can
  be dangerous
  
• Attachments
• Downloading virus or inappropriate content
• Use for personal activities

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Best Practice in Internet Security

• Does Ferris have a staff Internet/e-mail use
  policy?
  
• Electronic Mail Policy http//www.ferris.edu/htmls
  /administration/buspolletter/bpl0005.htm
  
• Electronic Mail Guidelines http//www.ferris.edu/h
  tmls/administration/buspolletter/bpl0005a.pdf

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Electronic Communication with People Outside the
University

• Employees and clients are free to choose
  electronic means of communication, including fax
  machine, Internet, e-mail, cell phone
  
• Consider discussing use of these forms of
  communication
  
• Use of one of these means may be considered to be
  an implied invitation to use and respond via the
  same means
  
• Discuss and agree on use and make sure others
  expectations match your own

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E-mail Metadata Attachments

• Have you ever used track changes or inserted
  comments?
  
• Have you ever gotten rid of the redline or turned
  off viewing?
  
• Did it actually go away or just become
  invisible?
  
• Have you sent out Word files as an attachment?
• Do you ever want to know what your counterpart is
  up to?
  
• Embarrassment and/or suggestions

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• Use compare instead of track changes
• If you do use track changes, make sure you
  accept changes
  
• Redlining with other redline tools
• Use scrubbing software and remove metadata from
  your documents

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E-mail Integrity of Attachments

• Will your counterpart be able to read the
  attachments?
  
• What, if anything, prevents the other party from
  modifying the attachment?
  
• How will you know whether revisions have been
  made?

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Tips

• Dont send editable documents for execution
• Send documents as PDF
• If you must send editable documents, insure that
  you have scrubbed or removed the metadata
  

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E-mail Security Communications

• Tips and cryptic communicationsdo you need to
  encrypt your e-mail communication?
  
• Other security risks
• Hotel or third party fax machines
• Who read the fax while in the process of
  delivering it to your room?
  
• If I receive a fax in error, should I just fax it
  back?

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Tips

• Have a fax sent to your e-mail inbox
• Other security risks
• Deleting files
• Recycle bin
• Temporary files
• Cache files
• History files and cookies
• Backup tapes and disks

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Tips

• Think about what youre creating in the first
  place
  
• Delete utilities may not delete from archival
  media
  
• Recipient still has a copy

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• Questions?

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• Thank You