General advice on working safely in Home Office

In this section, we have summarised general information on secure working from home. If you work on a computer administered via the Central Desktop Management of the SCC, you already have a high level of protection.

Connection to the university network

  • Even at home, it is best to connect your work computer to your router via a LAN cable.
  • For a WiFi connection, you should at least use WPA-2 encryption with a secure individual password. You can find information on this in the following article: https://www.heise.de/tipps-tricks/FritzBox-WLAN-Passwort-aendern-so-geht-s-4208469.html 
    Please make sure that the firmware of the router is also updated regularly to ensure the greatest possible security.
  • For many services provided by the university, such as access to project drives or protected areas of the university website, you need a secure VPN connection. Here you can find out how to set this up.
    For employees in the guarantee area, the use of access via »BUWVPN« is recommended. To do this, contact the SCC (nutzerservice[at]uni-weimar.de).

Change password in home office

  1. Logging in to the computer in the HomeOffice
  2. Dial into the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar with  »BUWVPN«
  3. After logging in to the computer, go to the password portal and change your own password. Wait until the website shows that the password has been synchronised in the connected systems.
  4. Now lock the workstation screen. There are two ways to do this:
    1. Simultaneously pressing the WINDOWS KEY + L
    2. Simultaneously pressing the keys STRG + ALT + DEL, then select »lock«.
  5. Now wait for a short time and then unlock the screen with the new password. When you unlock the screen, the new password is also saved on your own workstation so that you can log on to the computer with the new password even without a network connection.

What should be done if the computer has been restarted after changing the password in the password portal?

  1. Logging in to your own computer with the old password
  2. Connect to Bauhaus-Universität Weimar via »BUWVPN«. You must already use your new password here.
  3. After successful login, lock the workstation screen. There are two ways to do this:
    1. Simultaneously pressing the WINDOWS KEY + L
    2. Simultaneously pressing the keys STRG + ALT + DEL, then select »lock«.
  4. Now unlock again with the new password. During this unlocking, the new password is also saved on the user's own workstation, so that logging on to the computer with the new password is possible even without a network connection.

Data handling in home office

If you work in a home office, your home is your workplace. We ask you to observe the following points and implement them consistently:

Transport data

Official data in paper form or on electronic data carriers should only be taken home if absolutely necessary. In case of doubt, ask your superior whether confidential data may be taken home.

If necessary, the data carriers should only be transported in locked bags or backpacks and by the shortest route to your home office workplace. They must not be left unattended at any time. For employees who must take data in paper form or on electronic data carriers into the home office, the »Instruction on handling embodied data in the home office« must be carried out.

Communication channels

Please use the communication services offered by Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

  • E-mail:
    For official e-mail communication, use only the e-mail address of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Forwarding official e-mails to private e-mail addresses at external e-mail services (such as Google, GMX, web.de, etc.) is not permitted for employees.
  • Video, audio and web conferences:
    For video, audio and web conferences, please use the service »DFNconf«
  • Phone calls:
    Please take care to make confidential telephone calls in closed rooms without unauthorised listeners.

Beware of forged e-mails

Time and again, users receive e-mails that purport to come from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, but are in fact fake and aim to steal sensitive data or smuggle malware onto their PCs.

Report IT problems

  • In case of problems with the official IT use, please send an e-mail with a detailed and meaningful error description to nutzerservice[at]uni-weimar.de.
  • Please always include the name of your official workstation (yellow sticker) and your telephone availability.
  • Alternatively, you can also reach the user service by telephone from Monday to Friday during office hours on 03643 / 58 24 24. If you cannot reach anyone personally, you can also leave your message on the answering machine.
  • Members of the faculties and the HfM should always contact their IT contact person first.

Report data protection violations

Any data protection violations must be reported immediately to the employer and thedata protection officer. These are when the confidentiality of data has been compromised, third parties have had unauthorised access to personal data or data has been lost.