We apologize for this inconvenience
PADSTE employees received this note from Terry about the email quarantine:
"On December 18th, you may recall that we informed you that e-mail from non white-listed sites (.gov, and others that you have allowed in the past) would be quarantined and that you would be able to release messages as needed over and after the winter break. (See http://int.lanl.gov/security/cyber/incident/alert.shtml ).Due to unforeseen technical and configuration problems, you were unable to release quarantined e-mail on-demand over the holiday break. We apologize for this inconvenience. Your e-mail was kept over the holiday and not lost. At any point now you can either release the messages from your proof point digest that was e-mailed to you Sunday night or Monday. The server is very busy with people releasing their e-mail. We ask that you be patient and persistent to ensure you get the e-mail that you need. We will not automatically release any of the e-mail that was quarantined over the break. You can release any message, but e-mail that was quarantined and not released by the end of next week (1/16) will be automatically deleted."
27 comments:
I was never able to "release" any of the quaratined messages today... and the info on vacation and sick time accrual disappeared also... now tied into the Oracle "pay system" and also not available today. What a surprise.
It gets better and better with every LANS improvement.
From my (functional) email:
"Have you heard of today's email fiasco?
Supposedly some incoming mail was to have been quarantined during the break. We should have been able to retrieve it at any time manually, but this did not work. .mil domains were supposed to have been left open, but they were blocked. However, a friend of mine did receive an email from a sensitive country (unblocked!).
As of 3.30 PM today, it is still impossible to retrieve email. The site is non-functional. Terry Wallace sent a letter of "explanation", that explains nothing, except the fact that whoever put this in place was utterly incompetent.
I had to write to my sponsors, apologize for LANL's incompetence, and request that they resend the mail. Indeed, LANL is a work-free secure institution."
Not all e-mail was blocked. I got flooded with dozens of porn ads.
Another poorly thought-out decision by the management.
I think that they really screwed this up. One option is to use a private Email address (e.g., Hotmail, Gmail, etc) for ALL work and personal Email.
Yes, they apologized, but I don't think that they care at all!
I wonder if Mikey go all of his mail?
I still can't access my "quarantined" (read LOST) email today. Total incompetents!
What was the rationale for quarantining the email to begin with?
Did it really matter if it sat in the ProofPoint quarantine or on the regular email server for a week? What was the perceived risk of not quarantining?
I wish they'd get rid of that ProofPoint filter all together. It's a piece of crap that's not very configurable, has a far too high rate of false positives and false negatives and when you want to release messages from the quarantine you have to do them one at a time. If you have more than a few, that could take all day, even when the server isn't bogged down like it is now.
Anonymous 1/5/09 10:47 PM says that s/he got all of his/her porn.
SO, it wasn't a total loss.
This is another step toward becoming a totally work-free safe and secure place.
Sad to say, this place doesn't work any longer. It's broken at almost any level you care to observe. LANS has made a mess of things.
There are other options, though, especially if you have a high tech degree and a top level clearance. For example, become a G-man! Back in the 70's, LANL was one of the top places which the FBI used for technical assistance (alas, this is no longer true). They are in big-time hiring mode, especially in the area of computer science:
*****
FBI Plans Large Hiring Blitz of Agents, Experts - Jan 5, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wanted by the FBI: agents, language specialists, computer experts, intelligence analysts and finance experts.
The FBI said on Monday it had launched one of the largest hiring blitzes in its 100-year history involving 2,100 professional staff vacancies and 850 special agents aimed at filling its most critical vacancies.
The agency, which seeks to protect the United States from terrorist attack, fight crime and catch spies, among other duties, said it currently has more than 12,800 agents and about 18,400 other employees.
FBI Assistant Director John Raucci of the Human Resources division said the federal law enforcement agency is seeking to bring more people on board with skills in critical areas, especially language fluency and computer science.
"What was the rationale for quarantining the email to begin with?" - 9:59 AM
Our current CIO (from Bechtel, of course) thought it would be a great idea. 'Nuf said?
BTW, this is the same fellow who came up with the infamous "lans-llc.com" log-in scheme a few months back.
"Not all e-mail was blocked. I got flooded with dozens of porn ads.
Another poorly thought-out decision by the management.
1/5/09 10:47 PM"
I also got some dot com stuff and a few things that looked like they could be attacks. Way to go LANS!
How long before sensitive data goes out on gmail now as everybody moves over to it.
I have just one question... does the FBI destroy all incoming Emails over the holidays?
Actually, make that two questions.
Does Bechtel have any contracts to help manage the FBI?
Tick, tick, tick. January 16th approaches. Can you get your important Emails out in time?
I was able to access the Proofpoint server around 7 pm last night and "release" the emails I needed.
However, they still have not arrived in my In Box today. So I'll try again tonight. I am being "patient and persistent" after all.
Does anyone even know what organization deserves harrassment for this mess? They've reorganized so much, I don't know who owns the email servers anymore.
Latest update from Terry Wallace:
NIE is experiencing continued technical problems with the e-mail
quarantine appliance. The vendor is currently working to resolve the
lockup issues. In light of the current delays the decision has been made to release the quarantine e-mail to users rather than have them selectively release messages. We learned over the Thanksgiving break that we cannot release it all at once. We will release it in a staged manner (algorithm to be determined by NIE and the Vendor) over the next two days. We will try and factor in priority needs. We again apologize for the major inconvenience this has caused and we will take this operational experience into account when we plan future cyber protections.
------------
Principal Associate Director
Science, Technology and Engineering
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Does anyone see the bitter irony in the fact that the Principal Associate Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory cannot make an email system work? God, if that fact doesn't speak volumes about how fucked up this place is, nothing does.
Oh come on 7:58 PM - during Susan Seestrom's All Hands Meeting today she glowed in her praise of Terry being able to lose all the weight that he has. She said he looks great, fantastic!!
That should account for something, no?
............Mommy!..........
"Oh come on 7:58 PM - during Susan Seestrom's All Hands Meeting today she glowed in her praise of Terry being able to lose all the weight that he has. She said he looks great, fantastic!!"
Is this for real??
Can't wait until Terry because our next LANL Director. And you think things are bad now...
Seestrom and Wallace are birds of a feather, that is for sure.
"Oh come on 7:58 PM - during Susan Seestrom's All Hands Meeting today she glowed in her praise of Terry being able to lose all the weight that he has. She said he looks great, fantastic!!" - 8:33 PM
I guess all the "fatty pants" comments on this blog finally got to Terry and he decided to take some action.
Another win for this blog (and for Terry's health)!
11:44 AM - yes, indeed. MBB. (management by blog). Hail Director Pinky!
" 11:44 AM - yes, indeed. MBB. (management by blog). Hail Director Pinky!
1/9/09 8:27 PM"
??????
Maybe drug testing is a good idea.
I can't take credit for Terry's recent weight loss but I don't think that's a reason to have him drug tested. Congratulations Terry, though I regret to inform you that Richard Simmons is now in competition to be the next lab director.
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