Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of aerdf.cloud’s computing and network resources as well as other services and processes for R&D and data management.

Policy

This policy applies to users, employees, contractors, consultants, and temporaries using aerdf.cloud, including personnel affiliated with third parties. This policy also applies to all IT resources owned or leased by aerdf.cloud.

General Use and Ownership

These Terms and any policies and conditions referenced in these Terms are required to access certain features of aerdf.cloud services, and form the “Agreement” between you and us with respect to aerdf.cloud services. 

By accessing or using aerdf.cloud, clicking a button or checking a box indicating acceptance of these Terms, you signify that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Agreement. Users must be over the age of 18, and, if a business, duly organized and legally in good standing. 

Our collection and use of personal information in order to provide and maintain your access to and use of aerdf.cloud, is described in our Privacy Policy. In order to gain access to and to use the services, as part of aerdf.cloud, you must agree to these Terms and those described in our Privacy Policy. If you choose to refuse or withdraw consent to these Terms and policies, then we are no longer able to verify your right to utilize aerdf.cloud, and will not be able set up your account, or in the case of withdrawal, the account will need to be suspended.

Users of aerdf.cloud are expected to abide by the following guidelines that are built around the underlying principles of acceptable use of systems:

• Comply with all local, state, and federal laws; including FERPA and any relevant Data Sharing or Data Processing Agreements.

• Comply with the security obligations and requirements.

• Comply with AERDF policies and practices for data management.

• Respect and protect the intellectual property rights of AERDF and other users within aerdf.cloud.

• Protect access credentials (e.g., passwords, private keys, and/or tokens) issued to you or generated to access aerdf.cloud systems; these are issued to you for your sole use. Protecting these credentials includes the following requirements:

• You must use a unique password for your user account.

• You must only enter your aerdf.cloud password into trusted systems (e.g., trusted password managers).

• Sharing of passwords or accounts with anyone is prohibited. Users will be held responsible for any actions performed using their accounts. 

• Only access files or data belonging to you or that are publicly available or where the owner of the data has permitted you to access them. 

• Use aerdf.cloud services and applications for work-related purposes.

• Apply the same level of etiquette in all communication using aerdf.cloud to all non-electronic communication.

• Respect others when using aerdf.cloud resources.

• Use extreme caution when opening email attachments received from unknown senders, as such email attachments may contain viruses or other malware. Legitimate email notifications relating to the service will come from an aerdf.cloud email address (e.g., noreply@aerdf.cloud) or Box (e.g., noreply@box.com).

• Immediately report any known or suspected security breach or loss or misuse of aerdf.cloud access credentials, systems or data to help@aerdf.cloud.

Prohibited Usage of aerdf.cloud

The following usages of aerdf.cloud systems are prohibited. Under no circumstances is a user of aerdf.cloud authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing aerdf.cloud.

The lists below is by no means exhaustive but attempts to provide guidelines for activities that fall into the category of unacceptable use:

• Circumvention of any security measure of aerdf.cloud, its users or other entities

• Intentionally interfering with the network’s regular operation, including the propagation of computer viruses and sustained high volume network traffic that substantially hinders the network performance 

• Violations of the rights of any person or organization protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, which includes but is not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by AERDF

• Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitization and distribution of copyrighted sources and the installation of any copyrighted software for which AERDF or the end-user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited

• Revealing or publicizing confidential or proprietary information

• Making or posting indecent remarks, proposals or materials 

• Downloading any software or electronic files without implementing anti-virus and encryption protection measures

• Intentionally using, distributing or creating viruses, worms or other malicious software

• Operating a business, usurping business opportunities, organizing political activity or conducting activity for personal gain

• BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) arrangements are in place (i.e., personally-owned workstations or mobile devices are used for business purposes); users should not create or store confidential or sensitive information on personally-owned workstations

• Accounts must be created and managed using managed workplace emails; no personal (e.g., consumer gmails) may be used to create or manage aerdf.cloud accounts, which supply access to confidential/sensitive research information.