Risks and Considerations of Cloud Services
APPROVED SERVICES
This table indicates which data categories (Published, Controlled, and Confidential) are allowed on a selection of common IT services.
Published Data -----> Generally Low Risk
Controlled Data -----> Generally Presents a Moderate Risk
Confidential Data -----> Can be High to Very High Risk Depending on the Type of Data and the Compliance Framework it Falls Under
For more information on data classification, please see UT's Data Classification Standard.
The cloud services below have color coded checkboxes below to help you know which types of university data is authorized to be used.
| Cloud Collaboration Services |
Published
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Controlled
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Confidential
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HIPAA1 |
FERPA
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SSNs
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PCI2 |
ITAR6 |
IRB
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Instant Messaging: Skype for Business4 |
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Slack (slack.com)3 |
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Microsoft 365 Platform |
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Zoom |
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Apple iCloud (icloud.com)5 |
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Docusign (docusign.utexas.edu) |
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Smartsheet |
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Apple iCloud (icloud.com)5 |
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Email: UT Outlook 3654 |
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Cloud Infrastructure: Amazon (AWS), MS Azure4 |
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Apple iCloud (icloud.com)5 |
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DropBox (www.dropbox.com)5 |
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Code42/Crashplan (https://www.crashplan.com/) |
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Content Management: UT Drupal Kit - Managed, Pantheon Web Hosting (Drupal, WordPress, etc.) |
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Notes on Cloud Services |
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1 HIPAA data has special regulatory requirements; read this for more info. |
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2 Payment Card Industry (PCI) data has special regulatory requirements; read this for more info. |
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3 No enterprise contract currently; each department must go through the Contracts Office for their own contract with a FERPA agreement. |
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4 Authorized usage is limited to services provided under the ITS-managed vendor contract to remain compliant. Any use of the standard consumer-grade offerings of these products is not approved. Also, depending on the associated university data for certain cloud infrastructure it may be necessary to implement additional security monitoring. Please consult with the Information Security Officer to determine if monitoring is needed and to understand how we can assist you. |
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5 As there is no university contract in place for this vendor, no usage involving protected or restricted university data |
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6 It may be possible to store ITAR protected data if properly encrypted prior to being uploaded, but faculty should |
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Local Services
For comparison purposes, select services run by ITS and offered to campus are listed below with the types of data that are approved for use with each. Use of locally hosted services is encouraged over cloud services when possible. This table is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all ITS offered services.| Local Service |
Published
|
Controlled
|
Confidential
|
HIPAA1 |
FERPA
|
SSNs
|
PCI2 |
ITAR
|
IRB
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | |||||||||
File Storage: Austin Disk |
3 | ||||||||
UTBackup(On Premise and Cloud) |
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Virtual Servers (UT VMG) |
3 | ||||||||
REDCap (instance maintained by VP Research) |
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REDCap (instance maintained by Dell Medical School) |
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On Premise GitHub |
3 | ||||||||
Notes on Local Services |
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1 HIPAA data has special regulatory requirements; read this for more info. |
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2 Payment Card Industry (PCI) data has special regulatory requirements; read this for more info. |
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3 It may be possible to store ITAR protected data if properly encrypted prior to being uploaded, but faculty should |
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Departments evaluating the purchase and/or use of a cloud service not covered on this page with any Confidential university data must request a security review of that service by sending a written description of the proposed implementation to the Information Security Office. During service selection, departments should inform vendors that security testing (either performed by the Information Security Office or a qualified third party to the vendor) is mandatory for the university purchasing process.
If, for any purpose, a non-approved cloud service is used with any Confidential university data, an Exception Process must be initiated that includes reporting the non-compliance to the Information Security Office, along with a plan for risk assessment and management. (See Security Exception Report) Non-compliance with these standards may result in revocation of system or network access, notification of supervisors, and reporting to the Office of Internal Audit.
University of Texas at Austin employees are required to comply with institutional rules and regulations, applicable UT System rules and regulations, state laws and regulations, and federal laws and regulations.
The policies and practices listed here inform the system hardening procedures described in this document and with which you should be familiar. (This is not an all-inclusive list of policies and procedures that affect information technology resources.)