During normal day-to-day operations, HMS Information Technology Support Staff, including directors, engineers, technicians, Service Desk Staff, IT Managers, and IT Support Specialists may have varying degrees of access to information about you or information stored on your computer.

The type of information HMS IT support staff may have access to includes but may not be limited to:

  • Harvard University ID
  • HMS account ID
  • Information about your computer
  • Data stored on your computer
  • Data stored on fileservers you have access to
  • Information on mobile devices
  • Information stored in backup archives
  • Email stored on your computer

This information may be exposed through normal support resolution services provided by HMS IT Support Staff, Remote Desktop access or by automated services such as backup, endpoint service tools, email or antivirus.

Our Privacy Commitment

Your privacy is important. HMS IT makes the following commitment regarding the information support staff may be exposed to:

  • We will NEVER intentionally expose information to any person within or external to Harvard Medical School, unless specifically requested in writing by the Office of General Counsel, Office of Research Compliance or Human Resources.
  • We will NEVER access your computer without your permission and prior knowledge unless specifically requested in writing by the Office of General Counsel, Office of Research Compliance or Human Resources.
  • We WILL ALWAYS make every effort to ensure that any data we are exposed to remains private.
  • We WILL ALWAYS handle your information in the most secure manner possible.

What We Do with Your Information

Certain aggregate data that is collected, including but not limited to data regarding computer configuration, performance, usage or software versions will only be used to improve the security of your computer and improve the support and services we provide.

For specific information regarding what information may be exposed in what ways, review the Terms of Service for specific services in the IT Service Catalog.

What We Cannot Control

Harvard Medical School Department of Information Technology is not responsible for information you provide to any third party. This includes individuals in other departments within Harvard Medical School, Harvard University or any external parties or website you might access.