August University Policy Distribution Reminder
As a reminder, the August university policy distribution contains one (1) revised UW System Administrative policy and one (1) new UW System Administrative guidance document.
Revised Policy
- SYS 1041, Information Security: Logging and Monitoring
- See also revisions to SYS 1041 Appendix A: Logging Elements and Events
New Guidance Document
Click on the links above to view the drafts and ensure that your feedback is captured for review during the post-comment period. Comments can include attachments, including word documents and PDFs.
Feedback on the SYS 1041 revisions and SYS 1000 guidance are due at 5:00 pm on Friday, September 11.
DRAFT REVISIONS
SYS 1041, Information Security: Logging and Monitoring and SYS 1041 Appendix A: Logging Elements and Events
These policy revisions will be effective upon signature by the President.
Summary of Policy and Policy Revisions
- This revision updates SYS 1041, Information Security: Logging and Monitoring, to improve clarity, modernize policy language, and better distinguish baseline logging requirements from additional requirements applicable to High Impact Systems. The revision preserves the policy’s existing risk-based approach while reorganizing requirements for improved readability and implementation consistency.
- As part of this revision, a new guidance document was developed, Guidance for Identifying High Impact Systems, to promote more consistent identification of High Impact Systems across the Universities of Wisconsin. The guidance provides a flexible, risk-informed framework without prescribing a specific methodology or scoring model.
- Key Policy Changes:
- Clarifies and modernizes policy language and organization to improve readability, consistency, and alignment between the policy’s scope and requirements.
- Establishes a clearer baseline for security logging by requiring UW-owned or leased IT assets capable of generating security-relevant logs to have logging enabled, while retaining enhanced requirements for High Impact Systems. This replaces the existing focus on hosts and networking equipment.
- Strengthens and clarifies requirements for High Impact Systems, including monitoring for logging failures, centralized log management, and defined minimum logging activities.
- Clarifies expectations for log management, protection, monitoring, access, and retention, including risk-based active monitoring, protection of log integrity, and a minimum 30-day retention requirement.
- Reorganizes Appendix A to identify required log elements, mandatory event categories for High Impact Systems, and additional recommended events that support detection, investigation, and incident response.
- Introduces Guidance for Identifying High Impact Systems to support more consistent, risk-informed designations while preserving university flexibility in how determinations are made.
DRAFT NEW GUIDANCE
SYS 1000 Guidance: Guidance for Identifying High Impact Systems
These revisions will be effective upon signature by the Associate Vice President for Information Security.
Summary of Guidance
- As part of the 1041 revision, a new guidance document was developed, Guidance for Identifying High Impact Systems, to promote more consistent identification of High Impact Systems across the Universities of Wisconsin. The guidance provides a flexible, risk-informed framework without prescribing a specific methodology or scoring model.
- The goal of the guidance is to support more consistent, risk-informed designations while preserving university flexibility in how determinations are made.
August Policy Action Summary
Please see the August Policy Action Summary. It details work completed between August 8, 2026, and September 4, 2026.
New UW System Administrative Interim Policy Action Appendix
- SYS 200-03 Interim Appendix B, Guidelines for Teaching Workload Reporting and Human Resources Practices (approved August 31, 2026; expires January 1, 2027)
Revised UW System Administrative Policy
- SYS 232, Benefit Prepay Deductions and Short Work Break Eligibility (approved August 26, 2026)
Revised UW System Administrative Interim Policy Action
- SYS 100-11, Interim: UW System Transfer Policy – Guaranteed Transfer Amendments (approved September 2, 2026; expires March 1, 2027)
Rescinded UW System Administrative Policies
- SYS 148, Development and Operation of Contractual Training and Sponsored Student Programs (recission approved August 28, 2026)
- SYS 170, Lawton Undergraduate Minority Retention Grant (recission approved August 26, 2026)
Federal Fridays
The Universities of Wisconsin Federal Update Working group has a Federal Updates web page for the public to learn about the federal issues the UW is monitoring. The site provides a dashboard view of the various issues organized by topic, with a summary and links related to the topic.