Tuesday, March 5, 2019

March 2019 Technology Update

HelpDesk: 45 tickets opened. 44 tickets closed. 1 open ticket.

To create a request, go to https://loganelm.gofmx.com
. If you are requesting new accounts or resetting passwords for students, please include their grade level and student number. Please note: I will maintain both Spiceworks and FMX until May 31, 2019. After that date, Spiceworks will be retired.

FMX: FMX is a facilities management program recently approved by the board of education. This program will be used for transportation requests, maintenance requests, planned maintenance, building schedule requests and technology requests. FMX is up and running. Currently, it is being used for transportation requests. Starting now, it can be used for technology requests. Below are instructions for accessing FMX.

1. Go to https://loganelm.gofmx.com. 2. There are 2 login boxes. Click on the "Log In with AD FS" gray box. 3. Enter your email address (first.last@loganelm.org) and your password that you use to access your email. Click on the "Create Request" button in the upper right corner and choose the type of request you need to add.

The site is very intuitive to use. If you have any questions or need assistance, click on the "Help & Updates" link in the bottom left. There are training videos and an FAQ.

Chrome OS 70-71: Chromebooks and chromeboxes being used for testing need to be at Chrome OS version 70 or 71. Version 72 was just released, but we are holding our chromebooks at 71. An issue was found and patched for version 72, but if another issue is found, it is very difficult to go back a Chrome OS version. To find out which version of Chrome OS is being used, below are instructions.
1. Login to the chromebook. 2. Click on the time in the bottom right corner. 3. Click on the gear near the upper right corner of the box that pops up. 4. Click on the 3 lines near Settings and choose "About Chrome OS." 5. Underneath Google Chrome OS should be the version number. 

If it is not at 70 or 71, click on check for updates. If the chromebook or chromebox will not update, please enter a helpdesk ticket.

New Windows Domain: I have started moving computers over to the new domain at the high school and middle school. There are a few elementary computers on the new domain as well. I do not have any future calendar events, so I will be stopping by each classroom to complete the migrations. If your computer is in use, I will move on to the next classroom.

Windows 10: I am still in the process of upgrading desktop computers to Windows 10. My goal is to have every desktop on Windows 10 by the end of the school year.  I have 23 computers to go. There are some computers that will not be upgraded. They will be replaced over the summer.

Infinite Campus: Our first upload of our student data to Infinite Campus will take place on March 22nd. After the second upload on April 10, I will be attending a half day training session on adding users. Once this has been completed, we will have a "sandbox" where you can go in and "play" with our actual student data. If you change something, it will be overwritten in the final upload during the summer.

Email Scams (Phishing): Yesterday, ODE sent out the following message in their weekly update:

The Auditor of State's Office has received information that, over the last few weeks, several Ohio school districts have been victims of an email scam sometimes referred to as “CEO Fraud.” This targeted spear phishing attack uses familiarity to trick individuals into taking an action.
 
Each of the instances reported to the Auditor of State’s Office involves a cybercriminal impersonating the superintendent or a principal of a school district. In each case, an email was sent to a payroll department employee asking that a change be made to the bank account linked to the superintendent's or principal's direct deposit. The payroll deposit then is directed to the criminal. The scam is identified only after the impersonated employee realizes he or she did not get paid. These scams are especially effective because the staff member involved believes he or she is dealing directly with a district or school official who has the authority to make such a request.
 
The Auditor of State’s Office encourages districts to educate their staffs on this type of scam and be on the lookout for any such activity. The state auditor also encourages districts to:
  • Examine the procedures in place for making changes to an employee's payroll bank account; and
  • Consider taking verification steps outside of the email system before making such a change.
First and foremost, report all scams to the local police department and the FBI. If a district or school loses cash or assets because of such a scam, officials also should contact Ohio’s Fraud Hotline at (866) FRAUD-OH.

For our district, if you want to make changes to your direct deposit, it must be completed in person at the treasurer's office. Office hours are 8am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday.

Below is an email I received in my junk mail folder on Sunday. I have received reports from other staff members that have received it as well:

Hi!

As you may have noticed, I sent you an email from your account.
This means that I have full access to your account: At the time of hacking your account(john.rundag@loganelm.org) had this password: 69e566cd4a9eff29949e4a6d5

You can say: this is my, but old password!
Or: I can change my password at any time!

Of course! You will be right,
but the fact is that when you change the password, my malicious code every time saved a new one!

I've been watching you for a few months now.
But the fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.
Trojan Virus gives me full access and control over a computer or other device.
This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.

I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence from e-mail and messangers.

Why your antivirus did not detect my malware?
Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.
With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts on social networks. I can also post access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.

If you want to prevent this, transfer the amount of $748 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: "Buy Bitcoin").

My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 1B3Lx1t4CQSt3ck85bqzGHC9TeEQGANhUR

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.
I give you 48 hours to pay.
I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.

Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.
I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.

Bye!

It is easy to "spoof" email addresses, so I knew it wasn't real. The second giveaway was the password is incorrect. While I do use a lengthy password using uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters, it isn't even close to what I use. Third giveaway is I am confident there is no video of me and the only videos I watch are instructional in nature (webinars, videos on repairing chromebooks, etc). Last giveaway is even if everything in the email was true, I don't have $748 bitcoin to send. Sure, I could purchase bitcoin, but I don't have $2,870,427.56 in my bank account!

Bottom line: You have to scrutinize every email. It it doesn't seem right, it probably isn't. If you question something you receive, forward it to me. I will attempt to block the sender, but that doesn't stop them. They will hack into another email domain and continue their mission.

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