Resources for Ecology staff

From: Cristie Fredrickson
To: ECY DL ECOLOGY ALL
Sent: Dec. 10, 2019

Outlook Web Access (OWA) Being Discontinued – December 10, 2019

Good afternoon,

Outlook Web Access (OWA) will be discontinued due to increased security threats targeted at email. The planned discontinuation was this evening at 6pm. Ecology staff are reporting they no longer have access, and we are in the process of confirming if the service was discontinued several hours earlier than anticipated.

IT and cyber security are a growing threat and continue to be an area of focus, not only here at Ecology but across all state agencies. OWA is a service that has been provided by WaTech at no additional cost to all state agencies; and we here at Ecology have leveraged this service to conduct business. We know that Ecology employees have concerns about it going away.

However, there’s been an increase in phishing email campaigns and the use of compromised account credentials in OWA which caused outbound state email to be blacklisted or throttled by Yahoo, AOL, and Frontier. This adversely affected several agencies. Therefore, this service needs to be discontinued as it presents significant risk not just to Ecology but to all agencies that use the State Governmental Network (SGN).

How does this affect me?

• While current agency policy makes an exception and allows staff to access their work email on personal devices, that option will no longer be possible after WaTech makes the change later this evening at 6pm. Staff will no longer be able to access their email through a personal device.  This change will NOT affect email access through VPN on an agency issued PC, laptop, or tablet; and will NOT affect email access through an agency-issued mobile device. 
• Ecology staff will still be able to submit their timesheets through eTime.
• With the addition of GovDelivery, staff can receive building closure, delay notifications, or building safety updates via text message to your personal mobile device, or staff can continue to call the appropriate building phone numbers to receive updates. 

OWA is vital to my job. Are there alternatives? 

• Yes.  Executive Leadership was briefed on alternatives for OWA. 
• WaTech will allow agencies to create a security group for individuals who need OWA for critical business needs. WaTech is offering this service as an exception process, and in the event of future security incidents can be traced back to OWA the security group service may also be discontinued.
  • The Office of the Chehalis Basin is one example of a critical business need. Their board members, who are not Ecology employees, are required to use Ecology email addresses when conducting business on behalf of the Agency.  This allows all records to be accessed as part of Public Disclosure Requests. These board members will be added to the security group to allow them to conduct business on behalf of Ecology.  

How do I request to be added to the security group?

• Please discuss your critical business need with your supervisor or section manager to gain program approval to request to be added to the OWA security group.
• Complete the Request for OWA form, which includes a detailed critical business reason for the request.  Please note this is in the process of becoming an official Ecology form; due to the timing of the service being discontinued a draft form has been attached for your convenience.
• The form will require the program manager’s signature. 
• Scan and email the completed form to the IT Help Desk at ECY RE IS HELP DESK ECYREISHELPDESK@ECY.WA.GOV for ITSO and CIO review.

We understand this is a change that is disappointing and I am sorry this service is going away. It was a convenient option that many of our Ecology team members appreciated.

However, as stated above, it’s our responsibility to keep our systems and data healthy. That includes having a secure way of conducting business that doesn’t knowingly introduce increased security threats into the state’s network. I appreciate your flexibility as we adapt to this ever changing landscape.

Cristie Fredrickson, Chief Information Officer
Department of Ecology
Cristie.Fredrickson@ecy.wa.gov

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