News Flash

Description & Purpose:

The security of the City’s network is vital to the daily work of each department.  When a pc or laptop is compromised, staff who rely on that device lose valuable time.  Citizens and customers who rely on City services are also adversely affected, since the inability to use our computer resources hinders our ability to respond to their requests.

Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Mozilla (Firefox), and Oracle (Java) products are constantly under attack by cyber criminals.  Each company issues frequent patches to ensure the work done by cyber criminals does not lead to theft, corruption, other damage on pc’s/networks. IT receives patches daily for these products.  We currently have a large number of patches to apply to several hundred devices.  IT will have members of Tech Support available during the holiday period when most offices will be closed and staff will not be using their pc’s.  We are therefore reaching out for your help as we apply a large quantity of patches during this timeframe. 

When:

• Today, Friday, Dec 19, after 6:00 pm through Sunday, Jan 4, at noon
• Pushes will occur primarily on the weekdays, weeknights, and weekends that the City is closed for business during that period

Who is affected:

• IMPORTANT NOTE:  PC’s on the Police Domain (HPD, Fire & Rescue, Animal Control, E911) will NOT be affected. 
• Some City PC’s in all other departments will receive security updates. 

What will occur: 

IT is scheduling groups of pc’s to receive critical security patches.  To receive these patches, pc’s/laptops must be connected to the network, logged out of individual accounts, and turned on.  Since a large number of staff will be out of the office at least some over this holiday period, IT has an opportunity to reach a large number of at-risk pc’s without hindering their users. 

During this timeframe IT also has members of Tech Support working while the City is officially closed for business.  This provides us with an opportunity to support city staff who choose to work when the City is closed, and to also identify/resolve problems that might relate to patches before staff return Monday, January 4.

As the schedule of pc’s & departments is finalized, IT will reach out to the IT eXchange (ITX) members who represent most departments.  If the department does not have an ITX member or if the ITX member is out, IT will contact the department head.  We will not be able to patch every pc in every department during this period but we expect to patch a few hundred. 

Special Instructions:

Beginning today, Friday, December 19:  When you leave your desk for the day, please:

• LOG OUT* of the network and
• leave your pc turned on.  Any pc’s which are turned off have no ability to receive patches, so please leave them on.
• If your coworker has already left for the day and turned off their pc, please either turn their device back on or ask your supervisor to do so. 

*Note: Logging Out or Signing Off of a pc is NOT the same thing as Locking the PC.  It’s important for these patches that you Log Out or Sign Off. 

Continue this practice each day between today and the first day you return to work after Sunday, January 4, 2015. 

When you return to work on or after January 5, 2015, you may need to restart your pc.  We are doing our best to keep the number of pc’s that require restarts on January 5th to a bare minimum. 
Please report any problems to IT via email at helpdesk@hampton.gov. 

If you have any questions, please contact the IT Help Desk at ithelp@hampton.gov.  Thank you.