Safebox for Faculty & Staff

Safebox is a secure and safe method for faculty and staff to share sensitive data with their USA colleagues.
Safebox is not intended as long term or secure storage. Files should be removed from Safebox as soon as possible. Any file left in Safebox will be permanently deleted after 7 days. Data in Safebox is never backed up.

▼ Instructions at a glance (for returning users)

Has someone shared a file with you?

First click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with your department.
Copy the file from that folder and paste it onto to your desktop (or wherever you prefer). If you know that you are the only recipient, delete it from Safebox.
If the file is encrypted (you cannot open it), contact the person who shared it with you and ask for a password.

Do you wish to share a file with someone? If you need to encrypt the file, please use the full instructions here. Otherwise,

Locate the file on your hard drive and copy it to your desktop (or a temporary location of your choosing).
Rename the file such that (a) it is unique, and (b) communicates no sensitive data.
Cut the file from your desktop or temporary location (you will be pasting it elsewhere in a moment).
Click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with the recipient.
Paste your file into that folder.
Notify the recipient(s) that the file is in his/her/their departmental Safebox folder.

▼ Who should/can use Safebox?

Any faculty or staff member who needs to share a sensitive file with another faculty or staff member should be using Safebox to transfer that file (unless a Computer Center approved process already exists as may be the case where individuals are using security tokens and encryption applications etc.)

▼ How do I get access to Safebox?

All University and Health System faculty and staff with Active Directory credentials (generally those of you who log into your computer with a name and password every day) already have limited access to Safebox. You will be able to see all of the organizational folders in Safebox and you will be able to place files into any of those folders. You will not, however, be able to read, copy, or delete any of the files in Safebox.
To be able to copy or move files from Safebox to your personal computer for reading, you have to be granted additional access. Please ask your department head or a divisional vp to complete an Access Form on your behalf. Department Heads: When filling out the form you will need to specify to which folder(s) you are requesting access. First open Safebox and check the available folder names. List any that apply. If you feel that a new folder needs to be created, list it as NEW-[name] (like NEW-Financial Aid). Note that the creation of new folders is at the discretion of the Computer Center. Once approval has been granted, the Computer Center will email you confirmation and any pertinent follow up information.

▼ How do I prepare my computer to use Safebox?

If you are using Windows 7 operating system, follow the instructions here to download and install the Safebox Setup.

▼ How do I use Safebox?

Method 1: University-Level Security - This will insure that no sensitive data is exposed to Non-University members.

The faculty/staff member who wishes to share a file: First locate that file on your hard drive.
Copy the file to your desktop (or a temporary location of your choosing) and rename it such that (a) it is unique, and (b) communicates no sensitive data. For example, if Dostoevsky is sharing a file with Whitman on April 18, 2013 the name of the file might be 2013-04-18_Dostoevsky_Whitman. If Dostoevsky were delivering a file to multiple recipients, the file might be named 2013-04-18_Dostoevsky_Multi. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to that structure, just be sure that you are not communicating sensitive information in the file name.
Now cut the file from your desktop or temporary location (you will be pasting it elsewhere in a moment).
Click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with the recipient. For example, if you intend to share a file with a faculty member in Engineering, navigate to Campus Safebox\Engineering.
Paste your file into the folder. Note that once you paste your file, you will NOT be able to do anything further with it (unless you are dropping the file into your own department's folder and you have been granted additional access to that folder).
Notify the recipient(s) that the file is in his/her/their departmental Safebox folder.
The recipient: First click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with your department.
Copy the file from that folder and paste it onto to your desktop (or wherever you prefer). If you know that you are the only recipient, delete it from Safebox.

Method 2: Peer to Peer Level Security - This will insure that no sensitive data is exposed to Non-University members and that it can only be read by the intended recipient.

Note that this level of security requires that the file being shared is a Microsoft Office 2007 (or later) document or an Adobe PDF.
The faculty/staff member who wishes to share a file: First locate that file on your hard drive and open it.
Next, save a copy of the document to your desktop (or a temporary location of your choosing) using password-protected encryption. Make sure to name the file such that (a) it is unique, and (b) communicates no sensitive data. For example, if Dostoevsky is sharing a file with Whitman on April 18, 2013 the name of the file might be 2013-04-18_Dostoevsky_Whitman. If Dostoevsky were delivering a file to multiple recipients, the file might be named 2013-04-18_Dostoevsky_Multi. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to that structure, just be sure that you aren't communicating sensitive information in the file name. One of the links below will provide further instructions on encrypting your file:
- Instructions for Office 2010 users
- Instructions for Office 2013 users
Now you have an encrypted copy of your file on the desktop (or a location of your choosing). Cut that file (you will be pasting it elsewhere in a moment).
Click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with the recipient. For example, if you intend to share a file with a faculty member in Engineering, navigate to Campus Safebox\Engineering.
Paste your file into that folder. Note that once you paste your file, you will NOT be able to do anything further with it (unless you are dropping the file into your own department's folder and you have been granted additional access to that folder).
Notify the recipients that the file is in his/her/their departmental Safebox folder.
The recipient: First click the Safebox shortcut on your desktop and navigate to the folder associated with your department.
Copy the file from that folder and paste it onto to your desktop (or wherever you prefer). If you know that you are the only recipient, delete it from Safebox.
AFTER you have copied the file from the server to your computer, contact the faculty/staff member that shared the file and request the password.
The faculty/staff member that shared the file: You can now contact the sender and give them the password.