Updates to Email Communication Policy

Email is an official means of university communication.  Email services are provided in support of the administrative and academic functions of the University, which may include various types of protected information (e.g., FERPA, HIPAA, PHI or PII types of data). The University has regulatory and contractual obligations to protect this data and ensure it is stored on systems with appropriate safeguards.  All institutional messages to a published @uconn.edu address are required, by policy, to be delivered to a UConn-supported system.  Creating a forwarding rule on the system of record that forwarded a copy of each message to an external system was discouraged but not explicitly prohibited.  This has been changed in the updated policy, which now no longer permits automated copying or forwarding of email from University accounts to non-University accounts.  Specific emails may still be copied or forwarded individually, but the account holder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the email does not contain content that violates policy or regulatory/contractual obligations.  From the perspective of this updated requirement, UConn Health email accounts should be considered university accounts.  The new policy can be reviewed at:  policy.uconn.edu/2011/05/19/electronic-communication-policy/

This policy goes into effect October 1, 2023, and technical controls to prevent automated forwarding will be implemented on or after this date.  ITS will be communicating broadly about this change and directly with affected individuals as this date approaches.