{"id":2004,"date":"2020-09-29T10:01:25","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T17:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2020-09-29T10:01:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T17:01:54","slug":"recast-security-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/2020\/09\/recast-security-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"RECAST | Security Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a><strong>From:<\/strong><\/a> Alfonso, Antonio &lt;alfonsoa@evergreen.edu&gt; <br> <strong>Sent:<\/strong> Tuesday, September 29, 2020 9:23 AM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greetings! This is some important information\nfrom our friends at the state regarding recent news stories about the state of\nWashington computing resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want you all to know that as we start our\nthird quarter online, our systems are available and operating well, despite\nyesterday&#8217;s Microsoft outage. We continue to perform all of the same routine\nmaintenance and updates, remaining vigilant and ready to respond to issues as\nquickly as possible. As always, we&#8217;ll keep you in the loop when something is impacting\nour services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wishing you a healthy and safe start to the\nacademic year,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tony Alfonso, MS-CIS<br>Associate Vice President<br>Computing &amp; Communications<br>The Evergreen State College<br><a href=\"mailto:help.evergreen.edu|support@evergreen.edu|360-867-6627\">help.evergreen.edu|support@evergreen.edu|360-867-6627<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From:<\/strong> Weaver, James (WaTech) &lt;<a href=\"mailto:james.weaver@watech.wa.gov\">james.weaver@watech.wa.gov<\/a>&gt;<br>\n<strong>Sent:<\/strong> Tuesday, September 29, 2020 8:49 AM<br>\n<strong>To:<\/strong> WaTech DL Agency CIOs &lt;<a href=\"mailto:WaTechDLAgencyCIOs@watech.wa.gov\">WaTechDLAgencyCIOs@watech.wa.gov<\/a>&gt;<br>\n<strong>Cc:<\/strong> Sheehan, Vickie (WaTech) &lt;<a href=\"mailto:Vickie.Sheehan@watech.wa.gov\">Vickie.Sheehan@watech.wa.gov<\/a>&gt;; WaTech DL\nCAMs &lt;<a href=\"mailto:ctsdlcams@watech.wa.gov\">ctsdlcams@watech.wa.gov<\/a>&gt;<br>\n<strong>Subject:<\/strong> Security Best Practices <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know agency\nemployees have many questions about the phishing campaign they\u2019ve been hearing\nabout. It is important to note there is no known indication of state services\nbeing impacted at this time. The state is taking proactive measures to protect\nsystems, which may require taking certain applications offline temporarily for\nnecessary maintenance. Below is some general guidance for actions everyone can\ntake to stay safe online. Feel free to share with your employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Information for agency\nemployees:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state of\nWashington, like many public and private organizations across the country, sees\nfrequent phishing email campaigns. Agency IT staff continue to take a number of\nsteps to mitigate the risk that comes with these types of activities, but it\u2019s\nimportant to understand that cybersecurity starts with YOU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are providing the\nfollowing guidance to all staff. We strongly encourage you to review this\ninformation carefully and contact your agency help desk with any questions you\nhave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While no restrictions\nhave been placed on how we communicate internally or externally at the state\nlevel, some agencies may choose to take extra precautions, and we will need to\nwork with those agencies accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please continue\nfollowing best practices when it comes to security, especially email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SECURITY BEST PRACTICES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Choose strong passwords:<\/strong> Passwords should be hard to guess, contain more than      12 characters, and contain a mix of symbols, numbers, and upper-and-lower-case letters. Reminder: Never re-use passwords. <\/li><li><strong>Do not leave your device unattended:<\/strong> Lock your screen whenever you step away from your computer and don\u2019t leave mobile devices where someone else can access them.<\/li><li><strong>Do not install unapproved software:<\/strong> If you need new\/special software to complete your work, please contact your agency help desk and request it.<\/li><li><strong>Follow security warnings:<\/strong> If a website or attachment is blocked from opening, do not attempt to bypass the security software. If you think a site or attachment has been blocked in error, please contact your agency help desk for assistance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SAFE EMAIL HANDLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One key indicator often\nseen in phishing campaigns is the sender\u2019s email address doesn\u2019t match the\nperson supposedly sending the email. Example: The email shows it is from John\nDoe (ABC) &nbsp;The\nemail address doesn\u2019t match the name of the sender. In some cases the name may\nmatch, but the domain \u201c@badomain\u201d will be from a different organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are key steps\neveryone can take to protect themselves:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Check the sender\u2019s email address to see if it\u2019s actually from a different person or organization. <\/li><li>Be suspicious of any emails that urge you to take action and try to create a      sense of urgency. <\/li><li>Never click on links or open attachments without first making sure the request is authentic. <\/li><li>If you believe the email may be illegitimate, please report it to security staff in your agency. <\/li><li>Never call a phone number included in a suspicious email or reply to the sender.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for your vigilance and your diligence in helping\nto ensure our state remains safe and secure. We are all in this together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>James Weaver<\/strong> <br>Director and State CIO<br>Mailstop 41501<br>1500 Jefferson Street SE | Olympia, WA 98501-1504 <br>Office: 360-407-9150\u00a0|\u00a0Cell: 360-764-3844\u00a0<br><a href=\"mailto:james.weaver@watech.wa.gov\">james.weaver@watech.wa.gov<\/a> | watech.wa.gov<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From: Alfonso, Antonio &lt;alfonsoa@evergreen.edu&gt; Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2020 9:23 AM Greetings! This is some important information from our friends&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2778,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2778"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ltc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}