Firewall/Access Control List Policy

Version 1.3

For Students, Faculty, Staff, Guests, Alumni

Purpose

This policy is to ensure that the University's IT Resources are properly protected behind network firewalls or other network devices that utilize access control lists (ACLs).

Scope

This IT policy, and all policies referenced herein, shall apply to all members of the University community, including faculty, students, administrative officials, staff, alumni, authorized guests, delegates, and independent contractors (the "User(s)" or "you") who use, access, or otherwise employ, locally or remotely, the University’s IT Resources, whether individually controlled, shared, stand-alone, or networked.

Policy Statement

Users who can grant access to restricted network devices, including but not limited to routers, switches, and firewalls, must abide by the rules in this policy.
Users must verify that firewalls, switches, and router configuration standards are reviewed and examined semi-annually.
All IT Resources that allow access to data, systems, and networks must contain a default "deny all" inbound access rule.
All IT Resources on high-risk networks, such as the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) and DMZ (demilitarized zone) networks, must also contain a "deny all" rule on outbound traffic.
IT Resources on the PCI networks must be secured from direct public access.
Information Security and Assurance (ISA) must approve any access request via the Firewall/Network ACL Change procedure.
The ISA must explicitly authorize outbound traffic from PCI networks to the Internet.

Definitions

DMZ is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted network, usually a larger network such as the Internet.

IT Resources include computing, networking, communications, application, and telecommunications systems, infrastructure, hardware, software, data, databases, personnel, procedures, physical facilities, cloud-based vendors, Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors, and related materials and services.

Related Policies and Procedures

Implementation Information

Review Frequency:	Annual
Responsible Person:	Senior Director of IT Security and Assurance
Approved By:	CISO
Approval Date:	March 1, 2017

Revision History

Version:	Date:	Description:
1.0	01/26/2017	Initial policy
1.0.1	03/01/2017	Grammatical changes to definitions. No changes to the policy
1.0.2	05/23/2018	Updated disclaimer, scope, and definitions
1.0.3	01/04/2019	Updated links
1.1	06/09/2020	Updated policy statement and definitions
1.2	07/26/2021	Updated purpose and policy statements
1.3	08/01/2022	Updated policy statement

Policy Disclaimer Statement

Deviations from policies, procedures, or guidelines published and approved by Information Security and Assurance (ISA) may only be done cooperatively between ISA and the requesting entity with sufficient time to allow for appropriate risk analysis, documentation, and possible presentation to authorized University representatives. Failure to adhere to ISA written policies may be met with University sanctions.