New Internet Content filter: ZScaler
Last year we implemented a content filter and it just was not able to do everything we needed it to do. So this year we have ZScaler. It is a much more robust system that will handle all of our needs with more mobile devices in our system. Should you see a web page from ZScaler, it is OK to log in with your district credentials!
If you choose to use a personal device at school, you will need to install a certificate on your device to access all but basic web services. Here are
instructions on installing that certificate.
New Printers & Copiers
This summer’s district-wide copier and printer upgrade brings faster, more reliable machines along with cost savings of $150,000 per year. Copiers and printers were once deployed based on individual requests. However, independent audits of our print infrastructure (nearly 400 printers and copiers spanning 133 unique models) revealed that it had grown to dramatically exceed industry standards.
Copiers and printers are now guided by those recommendations and strategically deployed to best accommodate program needs. Savings add up as older devices are consolidated and replaced with faster, less expensive machines. For example, switching from an old desktop that cost 20¢ per page, to a ⅓¢ per page production machine means that each print job is now 1/60 the former cost.
Print release, a reduction in color printing and newly negotiated toner and maintenance costs will provide even more savings. Our new print costs are:
- ⅓ cent per copy - Sharp Production Black & White @70-90 pages per minute
- ⅔ cent per copy - Sharp Mid-level Black & White @50 pages per minute
- ½ cent per copy - Sharp Desktop Black & White @30 pages per minute
- 1 cent per copy - HP Black & White
- 5 cents per copy - Sharp Mid-level Color
- 9 cents per copy - HP & Sharp Desktop Color
These new machines bring several great features including print codes. Your new copier/printer code was sent in an email from papercut@isd624.org. Jobs are now held at the copier/printer until you release them. This increases confidentiality, eliminates cover pages and reduces waste. You will also have the ability to print to any of the new Sharp printers district-wide via one printer driver. If you did not receive that email, log into
bit.ly/printcode (from within the district network, it will not work from home) with your computer login and password.
Printer Resources & Training:
- To access to an HP printer you can install it on your own via these instructions, or submit a Bear Tech ticket to request help.
- For toner or maintenance, simply call the # on the printer and give them the printer ID code. A replacement cartridge will arrive the following day.
- Online Tutorials: locate the model # on the front of the machine (ex. MX-C301, MX-3070, or MX-5141) and then go to the Sharp site: http://www.my-sharp.com/wbl.mysharp.aspx
Phishing Scam
You may be aware that an evolving phishing email scam has been circulating through our district. Such emails are spread when staff click on a suspicious link and willingly providing username and password information to a third party. Scammers then use these accounts to send additional emails with the aim of tricking others into providing more information.
Our team is working with Google to limit current and future attacks, but this is not an isolated incident. There are countless organizations across the globe that scan the internet looking for people willing to offer up personal information. It is something we all must be watchful of, especially when we receive links that ask for an account and password.
To protect student and staff data, we will now enable
2-step verification for any staff member who has provided information to a phishing scheme. Any other staff member who wishes to take precautions against future phishing attacks can also sign up.
Please check your phone, tablet, and personal computers to make sure each is secured with a password. This will protect district data and secure any personal or financial information on your devices.
Here are some additional tips that will help you avoid falling prey to future phishing emails:
- Current emails have titles such as “M e r i t A w a r d s”, "G r e a t S t u d e n t N e w s" or “D o c” and appear to come from the White Bear Lake Area Schools and the White Bear Lake Area Post Office. Do not click on the links in these emails. Do not provide login information in response to any phishing email. Delete these emails.
- The links in these messages can appear to be from an isd624.org when addresses are spoofed or simulated. The one clear similarity is that they request that your information goes to a host outside of isd624.org either through the use of a Reply-To address (the address that replies are directed to, which are different than the From address when a Reply-To header is set) or an off-campus web server that collects the information. Keep in mind, while most phished passwords are only used to access your email account, the scammer actually has access to your entire Google Apps account.
Things to look for to verify if the email is a phishing email:
- Spelling errors and bad grammar
- Odd formatting (e.g., incorrect use of capital letters, punctuation, spacing, or line returns)
- No real person's name included either in the greeting or the signature
- A return or reply-to email address that is spoofed. You can view "full headers" to see what is listed as the actual return address or check the TO header as soon as you click reply.
- If a password is being requested, you know the email is not legitimate. We will never request your password. Look at what else is being requested as well (e.g., requesting your country, territory, or webmail URL should also throw up flags that it's not us requesting the information)
- No mention of a phone number to call or person to contact
- Deleting an account due to lack of response: we would never follow that kind of practice for current employees or enrolled students
- Includes a hyperlink that has an odd looking URL (for instance with a foreign country as the domain, or trying to match a legitimate web address but spelled differently)
Phishing is when malicious outside scammers send emails that attempt to acquire account passwords by pretending to be legitimate user to lure unsuspecting Faculty, Staff, and Students into giving the information. The emails direct Faculty, Staff, and Students to reply to an email with their password or click a link that opens a website form asking for their password in order for the scammers to collect usernames and passwords which they can use to send spam to the Internet while authenticated as the user account from which they collected the password from in a successful phishing attempt.
Please contact the HelpDesk at Technology@isd624.org or (651-407-7500 x1234) with any questions.
