Requesting administrator rights on a UQ computer

While administrative access may be convenient, there are broader security and operational considerations that must be considered to safeguard UQ's digital assets and ensure a cohesive and secure IT environment for the UQ community.

Administrative privileges allow significant changes to be made to a computer, including the ability to disable or modify system and security settings potentially increasing the likelihood of compromise. Furthermore, the impact of an attack is magnified if an account with administrative privileges is being used instead of an ordinary account. Hence, restricting administrative privileges is one of the Essential Eight mitigation strategies recommended by the Australian Signals Directorate.

Conditions of use

If your request is approved, you’ll need to meet the following conditions of use:

1. Your account with administrator rights will only be used when performing actions that require this level of access. All other activities will be performed under your normal UQ account.
2. Wherever possible, you must ensure that ITS installs software and upgrades, even though you have administrative rights. You will not install software if the software can be installed through the Software Centre, Self Service or by ITS within the terms of applicable Service Level Agreements. In some instances, this may not be feasible and if you believe this relates to your situation, please discuss with ITS.
3. You will only install correctly licensed software on your computer.
   • Personal licences are not normally valid for UQ devices.
   • A licensing review needs to be completed for all new software including free software or cloud-based (e.g. via web browser) using the Software Procurement Form (staff login required).
   • Please check pre-approved software and denied software lists before requesting a licence review.
4. Only the appropriate Contract Delegate or Sub-Delegate can accept software terms for UQ. Please complete the ICT contract and procurement brief (DOCX, 97.6 KB) (required if the agreement needs signing) and submit with the software terms to the Software Procurement Form (staff login required).
5. You will not modify or remove any management or anti-virus software installed by ITS on your computer, or modify security control settings.
6. You will not modify the account settings on your computer, e.g. granting additional privileges to particular accounts.
7. By taking on administrative rights to a UQ ITS managed computer, you become part of the team that has responsibility for its support.
8. You’re responsible for backing up critical files and data stored on your local hard drives. If your workstation has problems, ITS may, in consultation with you, return the computer to you in its original state without attempting to diagnose problems or restore local data.
9. Administrator rights may be removed if you make unauthorised changes to your computer.

How to request administrator rights

You can only request administrator rights if you are:

• a staff member or HDR student, and
• requesting administrator rights for your assigned UQ computer.

If you meet these conditions, you can submit an IT request to be assessed. In your request, include your:

• computer name
• organisational unit
• supervisor’s name
• reason for requesting additional rights.

ITS will assess your request based on your needs, ITS’ capability to deliver the functionality you require and any potential risks.