Email at GHC: What You Need to Know

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Email Forwarding

  • Email that employees send and receive is subject to the Georgia Open Records Act. Utilizing a third-party (personal) email account for work purposes puts an employee at risk by making his/her personal account subject to open records requests by members of the public, regardless of their legal merit. This activity also puts the institution at risk by bypassing our security controls. As such, forwarding your GHC email to a personal account is not permissible. (O.C.G.A. 50-18-72, IT Email Policy)

 

Email Signatures

  • Email signatures are part of GHC’s image to the public and should be treated as such. Email signatures should follow the standardized template included in the IT Email Standard and MAY NOT include any images, logos, graphics (with the exception of the GHC logo), personal contact information (such as personal phone numbers or email addresses), quotes or sayings, or any religious or political expressions. (IT Email Standard)
  • The standard signature template contains, in the following order:
  1. [The employee’s name]
  2. [The employee’s title]
  3. Georgia Highlands College (except when the GHC text logo is used)
  4. [The employee’s office phone number]
  5. [Any other applicable contact number] (optional)
  6. [The employee’s GHC email address] (optional)
  7. highlands.edu (optional)
  8. (an approved GHC logo – see below) (optional)
  9. (sent from mobile device) (optional)

 

Sending Messages

  • Sending email campus-wide is restricted to a small group of employees with access to the ‘Everyone on All Campuses’ distribution list. Employees who would like to send institution-wide messages should make a request with Marketing & Communications or utilize GHC Inform. (IT Email Policy) To submit a request through marketing & Communications, please visit intranet.highlands.edu/marketing/public/customer . To submit a post on GHC Inform, please visit ghcinform.highlands.edu .
  • NEVER PUT SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OR ANY OTHER PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII) IN EMAIL OR AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT. Email is not a secure form of communication. It is a myth that you can send PII or other confidential email safely through email if you immediately delete the message from your sent items and deleted items folders. Treat each email message like a postcard; its contents are public to anyone who handles or intercepts it once it leaves your mailbox.
  • Never request that anyone send their Social Security Number through email for any reason. This is a violation of Georgia law. (O.C.G.A 10-1-393.8)
  • Unintentional disclosure of PII or confidential information can be extremely costly, damage an institution’s reputation, and have serious legal consequences. In 2018 the Ponemon Institute estimated the average cost of each lost or stolen record is $148. Consider the probable costs being incurred by Augusta University from the breach of a small number of email accounts that were inappropriately used to transmit PII and health information: (www.ajc.com/news/state–regional/university-breach-risks-health-personal-information-417-000/nPuUSV8qqvQXTQjY0ML8wN/)

The current IT Email Policy and IT Email Standard, reviewed and approved by Cabinet last month, can be found on in the technology section of the Intranet (direct links provided below). If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at infosec@highlands.edu

 

IT Email Policy:

https://georgiahighlands2.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/ITS/EZ-t8vH_2KpHoTzeKfac_MQBW_ey5Em9tD5RXnhNGAo44w

 

IT Email Standard: https://georgiahighlands2.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/ITS/EQmJpaSeRCNIgDiLPevKV54BE3jMY1K0jH8ZUQAw38o81Q