ICT acceptable use policy

Email

You must:
  • only transmit emails from your own authorised account
  • check that the recipients of e-mail are correct to avoid accidental release to unintended recipients. Care must be taken when using auto complete to avoid the inclusion of an unintended email address
  • consider password protecting email attachments to mitigate the risk of sending an email to an incorrect recipient
  • use the blind carbon copy (BCC) feature when sending an email to more than one recipient and it is necessary to protect email addresses. An example of this could be when sending an external email to multiple members of the public or multiple suppliers
You must not:
  • auto-forward council email (@lincolnshire.gov.uk) to a non LCC corporate email address as security of alternative email addresses cannot be assured
  • use personally owned email accounts to conduct official business or to transmit or receive council information
Malicious email:
  • do not open an attachment, click on any link, or respond to an email unless you are confident the email is legitimate 
  • only release quarantined email if you are confident it is legitimate
  • do not forward a suspicious email unless instructed to do so by the Service Desk
  • if in doubt about an email or if you think you have received a malicious email, such as a phishing email, or an email containing malicious software,  report it to the Service Desk on 01522 555555 immediately 

Personal use of corporate email shall be:

  • reasonable
  • proportionate
  • occasional

It must not interfere with the performance of your role or the performance of the system.

Delegate access

Delegate access to email accounts must only be provided following a clear business need. This must be authorised by the email account owner, or, in their absence, an appropriate senior manager.

Delegate access must not be provided by supplying details of a user's credentials, for example username and password.

When provided with delegate access the person accessing emails must take reasonable precautions to avoid opening private emails. If it becomes readily apparent that an email is of a personal nature the reader must:

  • not open it
  • stop immediately if the email has been opened