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Prohibited Technology

These guidelines are effective April 14, 2025.

Background​

On December 7, 2022, Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive1 requiring all state agencies to ban the video-sharing application TikTok from all state-owned and state-issued devices and networks over the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to use the application for surveilling Texans. Governor Abbott also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) to develop a plan providing state agencies guidance on managing personal devices used to conduct state business. Following the issuance of the Governor’s directive, the 88th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 18932, which prohibits the use of covered applications on governmental entity devices.

Regulation​

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System Regulation 29.01.06, Covered Applications and Prohibited Technologies, implements Texas Government Code Chapter 6203 and the Governor’s Directive.

This regulation applies to the system and its members, including their employees, contractors, interns, and any users of member-owned networks.

Covered Applications and Prohibited Technologies List​

DIR maintains the current list of covered applications and prohibited technologies at https://dir.texas.gov/information-security/covered-applications-and-prohibited-technologies.

In addition to the list of technologies prohibited by DIR, the Texas A&M System prohibits:

  • Hardware or software technology that record all the keystrokes entered into a keyboard or workstation. This includes technology that functions as a keylogger even though it may be intended for a different purpose (e.g., Grammarly, etc.)4
  • AI from third-party services that participates in online meetings to deliver transcription or summarization services may not be used for any meetings where non-public information, including information subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 552), is discussed5

FAQs​

Texas A&M System Cybersecurity maintains a list of FAQs regarding covered applications and prohibited technologies:

View Frequently Asked Questions

Footnotes​

  1. Governor's Directive to State Agency Heads, Decembver 7, 2022 ↩

  2. Tex. S.B. 1893, 88th Leg., R.S. (2023) ↩

  3. Texas Government Code Chapter 620 ↩

  4. System Security Control Standard CM-11 ↩

  5. System Regulation 29.01.05, Artificial Intelligence ↩