FA Update – March 25

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Colleagues,

The latest two messages from the Chancellor can be found at the end of this email. Please review Maricopa’s System Status web page for all of the previous updates, including an update on Payroll.

Key points of the Chancellor’s latest emails include:

  • Starting immediately, all employees can reset their password on idme.maricopa.edu.
  • There will be live chat available over the weekend to support employees and students.
  • The District is still targeting March 29th for resuming instruction.
  • IT teams are in the process of bringing core systems back online.
  • The payroll process for pay date 3/26/2021 has been completed.

When you successfully regain access to your Canvas course, you can bulk update due dates and availability dates.

In order to prevent unintended filtering of our emails sent to your personal email address, please follow these whitelisting instructions. In addition to our emails, all updates are posted regularly on the Faculty Association website.

We will be forwarding an additional message from the Provost and Faculty Association leadership shortly. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.

Patrice Nango
Faculty Association President

 

Email from Chancellor Gonzales March 25, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that our information technology and recovery teams continue to make great strides in their efforts to safely restore Maricopa Community Colleges’ systems. We are now beginning the process of reinstating access to Maricopa Email and our Employee Portal.

Starting immediately, all employees can reset their password on idme.maricopa.edu using one of two options:

  1. Self-Service Password Reset: If you previously provided MCCCD with an alternate personal email account or mobile phone number that you can still access, you are able to use our newly developed self-service password reset process. If MCCCD does not have an active personal email account or mobile phone in our Human Capital Management system (HCM), we will provide you with an alternate ID verification process to reset your password. If you were a little ahead of the game and already reset your password this week, you may be required to reset it again as the password reset process is now officially open for all employees.

  2. Chat Assisted Verification: If you are unable to use the self-service option, you can use the chat feature on the idme.maricopa.edu website to verify your identity in order to have a password link sent to you. The chat support will be available for faculty and staff today starting at 4:00 p.m. Please have your government-issued ID available via webcam for verification purposes. The chat feature can also assist you with questions regarding the multi-factor authentication.

Once your password is reset you will have access to Gmail and our Employee Portal. Please keep in mind you may not immediately have access to all applications, and you may temporarily experience degraded performance as we complete this process.

We will have live chat available over the weekend, to support employees during the following hours:

  • Thursday, March 25, 2021: 4:00pm – 10:00pm
  • Friday, March 26, 2021: 7:00am – 10:00pm
  • Saturday March 27 and Sunday March 28, 2021: 8:00am – 8:00pm
  • Monday, March 29, 2021: 6:00am – 10:00 pm (or as late as needed)

As part of our efforts to build a more resilient network, the Maricopa Community Colleges purchased Sophos antivirus software, for all students, faculty and staff. Sophos provides added protection to keep private information safe, and advanced capabilities to ensure a safe, secure web surfing experience. As part of the District’s Sophos purchase, all current faculty and staff may use Sophos Home Commercial Edition on up to ten personally owned devices for free. You can download and install the software here.

We will continue to bring additional applications online in the coming days. I applaud the hard work and dedication provided by all faculty and staff as we work together to resolve the incident and safely recover systems.

Sincerely,
Steven

Email from Chancellor Gonzales March 24, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Our information technology department, in conjunction with external forensic specialists, continues to investigate and remediate the recent security incident and network outage.

Teams have made significant progress in deploying additional security controls across our network, including enhanced endpoint detection and threat hunting software. We have restored core systems, confirmed their security, and are in the process of bringing those systems online. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is a coordinated effort across the entire district and teams are working around the clock to make sure this process is handled carefully and diligently.

At this time, we are still targeting March 29th for resuming instruction. As we continue following a multi-phased approach to safely bring systems back online, faculty and staff will be asked to implement additional security controls on MCCCD applications and devices, including multi-factor authentication. You will also be asked to reset your password. Please continue to watch for updates and instructions from ITS.

At Maricopa Community Colleges, we take the safety and security of our information as well as the continuity of our systems and services seriously. To further strengthen our security posture, we are providing access to free antivirus software to all students, faculty, and staff for up to 10 personal devices. ITS will provide instructions on how to access this software. These actions support our ongoing efforts to enhance our defenses and mitigate the risk of future threats.

We appreciate your continued patience as we complete our response.

Sincerely,
Steven