PSC policies

PSC policies regarding privacy, security and the use of PSC resources are documented here. Questions about any of these policies should be directed to PSC User Services.

Security Measures

Security is very important to PSC. These policies are intended to insure that our machines are not misused and that users' data is secure.

What We Will Never Do:

  • PSC will never send you unsolicited emails requesting confidential information.
  • We will also never ask you for your password via an unsolicited email or phone call.

Remember that the PSC help desk is always a toll-free phone call away to confirm any correspondence at 1-800-221-1641.

If you have replied to an email appearing to be from PSC and supplied your password or other sensitive information, please contact the help desk immediately.

What You Can Expect:

  • We will send you email when we need to communicate with you about service outages, new HPC resources, and the like.
  • We will send you email when your password is about to expire and ask you to change it by using the web-based password utility. More information on PSC password policies is at www.psc.edu/general/policies/passwords.

Other Security Policies

  • A policy on resource abuse
  • PSC password policies
  • Users must connect to PSC machines using ssh in order to avoid remote logins with clear text passwords
  • We vigilantly monitor our computer systems and network connections for security violations
  • We are in close contact with the CERT Coordination Project with regard to possible Internet security violations

Reporting Security Incidents

To report a security incident you should contact our Hotline at 800-221-1641. To report non-emergency security incidents you can send email to remarks@psc.edu .

Use of PSC Resources

The policies documented here are evaluated regularly to assure adequate and responsible administration of PSC systems for users. As such, they are subject to change at any time.

Specific policies for how the machines should be used (how to run large jobs, for example) are found within the documentation for each machine.

Privacy

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is committed to preserving your privacy. This privacy policy explains exactly what information is collected when you visit our site and how it is used.

This policy may be modified as new features are added to the site. Any changes to the policy will be posted on this page.

  • Any data automatically collected from our site visitors - domain name, browser types, etc. - are used only in aggregate to help us better meet site visitors' needs.
  • There is no identification of individuals from our aggregate data. Therefore, unless you choose otherwise, you are totally anonymous when visiting our site.
  • We do not share data with anyone for commercial purposes.
  • If you choose to submit personally identifiable information to us electronically via the PSC feedback page, email, etc., we will treat it with the same respect for privacy afforded to mailed submissions. Submission of such information is always optional.

PSC respects individual privacy and takes great effort in supporting web site privacy policy outlined above. Please be aware, however, that we publish URLs of other sites on our web site that may not adhere to the same policy.