The GEMS Security - Our Safety and Responsibility.

Information such as employment information and job records should only be accessible by the employee themselves and respective authorized personnel that do administrative work. Having such important information falling into the wrong hands may cause a lot of damage to us and the operation of our organization as a whole. GEMS have security features to manage such risks from happening and we must be proactive in taking up the responsibility for the safety of our information in GEMS. In this article, we will understand how GEMS can secure us and how we can secure GEMS.

How GEMS Can Secure Us - Role Defines Access

GEMS determines our level of access by the role that we have in the system. As a Self-Service User, this means that we cannot view employment information of another Self-Service User but an authorized HR Administrator or Specialist can. Authorized HR Administrators or Specialists accesses our employment information to process any job request that has been electronically submitted by us. An illustration of how GEMS structures its security levels is provided below:

The systematic structure of GEMS security levels ensure that only the right type of people can access the appropriate type of information every time they enter the system.

How We Can Secure GEMS

The security of GEMS is everyone's responsibility and it is encouraged that we practice sound preventive measures to safeguard it. Provided below are some security tips that we can apply to ourselves:

Create a Strong Password

It is very important that we spend some time to think about how we can personalize a strong password that is memorable and logical only to our individual selves.

 

To create a password in GEMS, we must remember the following rules:

• GEMS password is case-sensitive

• GEMS password should be equal to or more than 8 characters long with at least 1 number in it.

• GEMS password is to be changed every 90 days

An example of a password that follows the above rules is illustrated below:

Avoid Keeping A Physical Note of Our Password

Keeping our password on a piece of paper, notepad or diary will make our privileged access to GEMS vulnerable to unauthorized people. There can be a high chance that we could misplace it or someone finding it and using it for their personal gains. It is always good practice that we memorize our passwords where no one else but ourselves knows about it.

 

Prevent Anyone From Watching When Logging In

Whenever we log into GEMS, we must ensure that no one around us is within sight of watching us key in our password. If necessary, kindly ask the person to move away for awhile so that we can key in our password comfortably. This avoids unnecessary suspicion of another colleague just because he or she unintentionally sees us keying in our password.

 

Note: Do not be shy of asking to be excused while keying in the password. It is our responsibility to keep our password to ourselves at all times.

 

Change Password If Compromised

We are responsible for the safety of our own password therefore if we think that it is compromised in anyway, we should change it immediately. By doing so, we can be comfortably sure that no one else but ourselves knows the password to our own GEMS account.

 

Log Out When Not Working

We must always remember to log out of our personal computers whenever we are leaving the workplace. This will prevent the security of our work computers from being compromised by intruders during our absence from the office.

 

Tip : If we are leaving for just a few minutes, we can use the computer locking feature. The computer locking feature does not shut down the computer but locks it from further use until it is given a correct password. (If there is no locking feature in the computer, we should contact our local IT section for support.)

 

Secure Sensitive Information and Files

Keep all sensitive information and files locked away. Restrict access to anyone that does not need it unless given the authority to do so and closely watch your files.

 

Regularly Update Anti-Virus

Ensure that our work computers have the most up-to-date anti-virus software. If not provided with the access to update the anti-virus definition, then we should contact our local IT section for the support.

 

Do Not Install Unauthorized Software

Under no circumstances, should we attempt to install any unauthorized software that has not been approved by our local IT section for use. In the instance where we would like to install a software to help improve the way we work (eg. SnagIt), we should always refer this activity to the local IT section in our department.

 

Scan Items Before Using

Always make it a habit to scan hardware items foreign to our work computers such as USB memory sticks and external hard drives before using it. They may contain malicious viruses that can potentially compromise both the security and integrity of our computers.

 

 

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