Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives

Re: SECURITY Digest - 20 Mar 2019 to 21 Mar 2019 (#2019-49)


From: "Tanner, Andrea" <atanner3 () CCBCMD EDU>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:01:00 +0000

Hi everyone,



We are talking about doing this at the Community College of Baltimore County as well.  I am curious, did you get a lot 
of user complaints and flood of calls to the Help Desk?  I’d be curious to know your process, such as did you give 
people time to migrate to the Outlook Apps on phones and computers?  What sort of messages and migration documents did 
you create about this change, if you are willing to share those materials?  Did you start with one protocol at a time 
or did you turn them all off at the same time?  I assume POP, IMAP, and SMTP?



My email is below if you don’t want to clutter the list.  Thank you!


Andrea
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Andrea Tanner, M.S. | Senior Director, Technology Support | Community College of Baltimore County
Phone: 443-840-4155  | Catonsville Campus CLLB 104B       | atanner3 () ccbcmd edu<mailto:atanner3 () ccbcmd edu>
CCBC. The incredible value of education.



-----Original Message-----
From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> On Behalf Of Garmon, Joel
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2019 9:57 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] SECURITY Digest - 20 Mar 2019 to 21 Mar 2019 (#2019-49)



CAUTION: This email originated from outside of CCBC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the 
sender and know the content is safe.





Hi,



We use Exchange and turned off the legacy email protocols.  We have seen a dramatic drop in compromised accounts 
sending out spam.



Thank you,



Joel Garmon

Chief Information Security Officer

Computer Services and Systems Development (CSSD) University of Pittsburgh

412-624-5595







-----Original Message-----

From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU>> On Behalf Of SECURITY automatic digest system

Sent: Friday, March 22, 2019 12:00 AM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>

Subject: SECURITY Digest - 20 Mar 2019 to 21 Mar 2019 (#2019-49)



There are 11 messages totalling 2409 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



  1. Turning off IMAP (11)



----------------------------------------------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400

From:    Emily Harris <emharris () VASSAR EDU<mailto:emharris () VASSAR EDU>>

Subject: Turning off IMAP



I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3 for their Google domains.  We are looking to do this 
by the beginning of May and we are wondering if those-who-have-gone-before-us have any words of advice or caution.



Ideally, we'd like to turn it off domain-wide and then allow it for certain users - is that even possible for Google?  
We just started looking at those options and how to manage our exceptional cases (of which we know of a few).  TIA!



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:51:46 -0400

From:    Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () VT EDU<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () VT EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3 for

their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and prohibit the use of mail software that processes the 
mail locally on the user's computer?



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:59:46 -0400

From:    Emily Harris <emharris () VASSAR EDU<mailto:emharris () VASSAR EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open allows a criminal with a credential to get into 
someone's email and use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our knowledge) twice.  The users 
never replied to phishing, had changed their password within the last

12 months (so it was not an old hack / password reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging event on a 
public machine or during travel.

Since we are on SSO, Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a

(convoluted) way to make that part of the equation, but from a user perspective I think it is harder to explain rather 
than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>

wrote:



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3

for their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally on

the user's computer?





------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:05:49 -0400

From:    Kevin Wilcox <wilcoxkm () APPSTATE EDU<mailto:wilcoxkm () APPSTATE EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 at 14:51, Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>

wrote:





Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally on

the user's computer?





The biggies for us are that so few clients do proper MFA and application-specific passwords are essentially $DEITY_MODE.



By "so few clients" I mean "I really love mutt but it isn't Duo-friendly".



We don't turn them off but I advocate it regularly, even if it's meant I had to leave my beloved mutt.



kmw



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:08:46 -0400

From:    Gael Frouin <gfrouin () BERKLEE EDU<mailto:gfrouin () BERKLEE EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less secure apps" for your users. This will force users to 
use OAuth or SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while still allowing the user of email 
clients (see 
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=04XeUS2jtmnrxP%2FFdBGstN21g3feshdQ1RJM8YcW%2BLw%3D&amp;reserved=0
 for Less secure apps

management)



Gaël Frouin

*Information Security Officer*

*Berklee*



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>> wrote:



YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open

allows a criminal with a credential to get into someone's email and

use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our

knowledge) twice.  The users never replied to phishing, had changed

their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack /

password reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging

event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on SSO,

Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to make

that part of the equation, but from a user perspective I think it is

harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks

<valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>

wrote:



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3

for their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally on

the user's computer?







------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 16:02:47 -0400

From:    Emily Harris <emharris () VASSAR EDU<mailto:emharris () VASSAR EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours - agreed that it would be preferred to disable less 
secure apps, but are still waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>> wrote:



I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less secure

apps" for your users. This will force users to use OAuth or SAML in

your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while still

allowing the user of email clients (see

https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupp

ort.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cjsg

%40PITT.EDU%7Cba712e77c88b4eabb9b408d6ae7adc6f%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3

a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C636888240059842140&amp;sdata=%2FfB5kp5%2FOr7GE9B

PYUp8X8QYBl2%2BuCmYBB298Eduqw4%3D&amp;reserved=0 for Less secure apps

management)



Gaël Frouin

*Information Security Officer*

*Berklee*



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>> wrote:



YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open

allows a criminal with a credential to get into someone's email and

use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our

knowledge) twice.  The users never replied to phishing, had changed

their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack /

password reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging

event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on SSO,

Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to make

that part of the equation, but from a user perspective I think it is

harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks

<valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>

wrote:



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3

for their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally on

the user's computer?







------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 20:16:43 +0000

From:    "Jones, Mark B" <Mark.B.Jones () UTH TMC EDU<mailto:Mark.B.Jones () UTH TMC EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



+1



From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU>> On Behalf Of Emily Harris

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 3:03 PM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>

Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Turning off IMAP





**** EXTERNAL EMAIL ****

We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours - agreed that it would be preferred to disable less 
secure apps, but are still waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () 
berklee edu%3cmailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>>> wrote:

I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less secure apps" for your users. This will force users to 
use OAuth or SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while still allowing the user of email 
clients (see 
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=04XeUS2jtmnrxP%2FFdBGstN21g3feshdQ1RJM8YcW%2BLw%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=t7y7x11N%2B2Mh%2F1wQT4tsFnGrv6h4O3%2BNxQbmPEzHGzI%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=04XeUS2jtmnrxP%2FFdBGstN21g3feshdQ1RJM8YcW%2BLw%3D&amp;reserved=0%3chttps://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=t7y7x11N%2B2Mh%2F1wQT4tsFnGrv6h4O3%2BNxQbmPEzHGzI%3D&amp;reserved=0>=>
 for Less secure apps management)



Gaël Frouin

Information Security Officer

Berklee



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () 
vassar edu%3cmailto:emharris () vassar edu>>> wrote:

YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open allows a criminal with a credential to get into 
someone's email and use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our knowledge) twice.  The users 
never replied to phishing, had changed their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack / password 
reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on 
SSO, Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to make that part of the equation, but from a user 
perspective I think it is harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt 
edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu%3cmailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3 for

their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and prohibit the use of mail software that processes the 
mail locally on the user's computer?



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 16:18:39 -0400

From:    Gael Frouin <gfrouin () BERKLEE EDU<mailto:gfrouin () BERKLEE EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



You can create one or multiple sub OUs in google and change the setting just for that OU while inheriting the other 
from the parent OU E.g.

staff

- STALessSecure

Student

- STULessSecure



Etc.



There will definitely be exceptions (e.g. genetic accounts used in various random systems not supported oauth2 for 
authentication)



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 16:03 Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>> wrote:



We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours - agreed

that it would be preferred to disable less secure apps, but are still

waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.





----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>> wrote:



I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less

secure apps" for your users. This will force users to use OAuth or

SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while

still allowing the user of email clients (see

https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsup

port.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cj

sg%40PITT.EDU%7Cba712e77c88b4eabb9b408d6ae7adc6f%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87

cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C636888240059842140&amp;sdata=%2FfB5kp5%2FOr7

GE9BPYUp8X8QYBl2%2BuCmYBB298Eduqw4%3D&amp;reserved=0 for Less secure

apps management)



Gaël Frouin

*Information Security Officer*

*Berklee*



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>> wrote:



YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open

allows a criminal with a credential to get into someone's email and

use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our

knowledge) twice.  The users never replied to phishing, had changed

their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack

/ password reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging

event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on SSO,

Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to

make that part of the equation, but from a user perspective I think

it is harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <

valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>> wrote:



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and

POP3 for their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally

on the user's computer?







------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 20:22:10 +0000

From:    "Telfer, Will" <Will_Telfer () BAYLOR EDU<mailto:Will_Telfer () BAYLOR EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



With the caveat that we are not a Google campus as we use MS/Office 365, we disabled IMAP access to email for all but a 
handful of faculty/staff that had been using it for years…with the understanding that if their accounts were ever 
compromised via phishing, etc. that there would be no discussion & it would be disabled permanently after that (this 
was communicated to all users who remained on IMAP). Our reasoning was that IMAP allowed accounts that were compromised 
to continue sending phishing/junk without enforcing our 2-factor authentication via Duo. Once we disabled it, our 
compromised accounts went from hundreds per week (at the peak times) to zero (to be fair the 2-factor enforcement on 
Office 365 was the bigger factor in this quick decrease).



Thank You,

Will Telfer, M.S.

Information Security Analyst

Information Technology Services

[sig]

Twitter: @BearAware

Facebook: 
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.facebook.com%2FBearAware&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=sE2M0fihERM1KiS58MKpN25UAHZAKKqHgsEm1GBm8CU%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBearAware&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=NpJpv69gIqziFZiJLns2abM9c2P8PRZHZZj4bWazI8I%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.facebook.com%2FBearAware&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=sE2M0fihERM1KiS58MKpN25UAHZAKKqHgsEm1GBm8CU%3D&amp;reserved=0%3chttps://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBearAware&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=NpJpv69gIqziFZiJLns2abM9c2P8PRZHZZj4bWazI8I%3D&amp;reserved=0>>



From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU>> On Behalf Of Jones, Mark B

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 3:17 PM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>

Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Turning off IMAP



+1



From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU%3cmailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>>> On Behalf Of Emily 
Harris

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 3:03 PM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE 
EDU%3cmailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>>

Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Turning off IMAP





**** EXTERNAL EMAIL ****

We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours - agreed that it would be preferred to disable less 
secure apps, but are still waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () 
berklee edu%3cmailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>>> wrote:

I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less secure apps" for your users. This will force users to 
use OAuth or SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while still allowing the user of email 
clients (see 
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=04XeUS2jtmnrxP%2FFdBGstN21g3feshdQ1RJM8YcW%2BLw%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e%3D&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=xLR8vtoDfl6cSTJS1p7UG5te7UQpmx7g5PL4L%2BdXKIc%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350637780&amp;sdata=04XeUS2jtmnrxP%2FFdBGstN21g3feshdQ1RJM8YcW%2BLw%3D&amp;reserved=0%3chttps://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e%3D&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=xLR8vtoDfl6cSTJS1p7UG5te7UQpmx7g5PL4L%2BdXKIc%3D&amp;reserved=0>>
 for Less secure apps management)



Gaël Frouin

Information Security Officer

Berklee



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () 
vassar edu%3cmailto:emharris () vassar edu>>> wrote:

YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open allows a criminal with a credential to get into 
someone's email and use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our knowledge) twice.  The users 
never replied to phishing, had changed their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack / password 
reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on 
SSO, Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to make that part of the equation, but from a user 
perspective I think it is harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt 
edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu%3cmailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3 for

their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and prohibit the use of mail software that processes the 
mail locally on the user's computer?



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 20:25:48 +0000

From:    John Jennings <jjennings () ALLIANT EDU<mailto:jjennings () ALLIANT EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



We blocked IMAP/POP/SMTP at the edge after monitoring usage for a couple of weeks and notifying users. As a result, we 
have seen hits against our O365 domain drop by over 10K per month.



We still have some internal app service accounts communicating using these protocols and are working with the vendors 
to modify them. In the interim we have ensured they have very complex, lengthy, and rotating passwords.





John Jennings, CISSP

Vice President/Acting CIO

10455 Pomerado Road, M-13

San Diego, CA 92131

Direct: (720)480-5913

Email: jjennings () alliant edu<mailto:jjennings () alliant edu<mailto:jjennings () alliant edu%3cmailto:jjennings () 
alliant edu>>



[cid:5f299f2b-3483-4b48-bd7a-2a71e249c505]







From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU>> On Behalf Of Jones, Mark B

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 2:17 PM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>

Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Turning off IMAP



+1



From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV 
EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU%3cmailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>>> On Behalf Of Emily 
Harris

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 3:03 PM

To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE 
EDU%3cmailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>>

Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Turning off IMAP





**** EXTERNAL EMAIL ****

We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours - agreed that it would be preferred to disable less 
secure apps, but are still waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () 
berklee edu%3cmailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>>> wrote:

I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less secure apps" for your users. This will force users to 
use OAuth or SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while still allowing the user of email 
clients (see 
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=FsVzqPAXYAe7T22fiCZ7N4MZk3HLNmpRXi%2BmuPq1dPk%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=qoxRwgZoORJbQEGrkhu8c8WhGbwXbzRiYCONPUrEzRY%3D&amp;reserved=0<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=FsVzqPAXYAe7T22fiCZ7N4MZk3HLNmpRXi%2BmuPq1dPk%3D&amp;reserved=0%3chttps://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__support.google.com_a_answer_6260879-3Fhl-3Den%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DbKRySV-ouEg_AT-w2QWsTdd9X__KYh9Eq2fdmQDVZgw%26r%3DLgw4Sh6g47kM5A_tpEcLZDyPGvmOKdeDlyp60PwA78c%26m%3DEmvQfnwoek_8TAwETFZ5rc_5-1J10g6jKng3cAzm-14%26s%3DmiWuR0GURwAknQKgEsdgi7uTMp0WAy_ljzAI8Ei8jTY%26e&amp;data=02%7C01%7Catanner3%40CCBCMD.EDU%7C9ae95b63430d472df93b08d6aece46d9%7C2afa200077264920a9570397c340fc3d%7C0%7C0%7C636888598350647785&amp;sdata=qoxRwgZoORJbQEGrkhu8c8WhGbwXbzRiYCONPUrEzRY%3D&amp;reserved=0>=>
 for Less secure apps management)



Gaël Frouin

Information Security Officer

Berklee



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () 
vassar edu%3cmailto:emharris () vassar edu>>> wrote:

YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3 open allows a criminal with a credential to get into 
someone's email and use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has happened (to our knowledge) twice.  The users 
never replied to phishing, had changed their password within the last 12 months (so it was not an old hack / password 
reuse issue; it was likely a random malware / key logging event on a public machine or during travel.  Since we are on 
SSO, Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did figure out a (convoluted) way to make that part of the equation, but from a user 
perspective I think it is harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt 
edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu%3cmailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>>> wrote:

On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and POP3 for

their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and prohibit the use of mail software that processes the 
mail locally on the user's computer?

NOTICE - This email was sent from outside of the University - do NOT open any attachments or click on links if you are 
unsure of the sender’s identity.



NOTICE - This message (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary, privileged and/or private 
information. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity designated above. If you are not 
the intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender immediately, and delete the message and any 
attachments. Any disclosure, reproduction, distribution or other use of this message or any attachments by an 
individual or entity other than the intended recipient is prohibited.



------------------------------



Date:    Thu, 21 Mar 2019 16:38:11 -0400

From:    Emily Harris <emharris () VASSAR EDU<mailto:emharris () VASSAR EDU>>

Subject: Re: Turning off IMAP



It definitely surfaces the fact that we have too many Sub OUs in the first place.



----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 4:18 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>> wrote:



You can create one or multiple sub OUs in google and change the

setting just for that OU while inheriting the other from the parent OU

E.g.

staff

- STALessSecure

Student

 - STULessSecure



Etc.



There will definitely be exceptions (e.g. genetic accounts used in

various random systems not supported oauth2 for authentication)



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 16:03 Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>> wrote:



We've rolled it around here at Vassar over the last few hours -

agreed that it would be preferred to disable less secure apps, but

are still waffling on the exceptions, which we believe will surface.





----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:09 PM Gael Frouin <gfrouin () berklee edu<mailto:gfrouin () berklee edu>> wrote:



I believe that the right setting then would be to disable "less

secure apps" for your users. This will force users to use OAuth or

SAML in your case. It will prevent plain text login/password while

still allowing the user of email clients (see

https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsu

pport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F6260879%3Fhl%3Den&amp;data=02%7C01%7

Cjsg%40PITT.EDU%7Cba712e77c88b4eabb9b408d6ae7adc6f%7C9ef9f489e0a04ee

b87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C636888240059852149&amp;sdata=nnVQlRtruVj

PeZLMPNPilCGsesAu%2FbyVQ8X1k6omJZg%3D&amp;reserved=0 for Less secure

apps management)



Gaël Frouin

*Information Security Officer*

*Berklee*



On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM Emily Harris <emharris () vassar edu<mailto:emharris () vassar edu>>

wrote:



YES.



We use SSO - SAML and protected via MFA.  Leaving IMAP and POP3

open allows a criminal with a credential to get into someone's

email and use the Google SMTP server to send spam.  This has

happened (to our knowledge) twice.  The users never replied to

phishing, had changed their password within the last 12 months (so

it was not an old hack / password reuse issue; it was likely a

random malware / key logging event on a public machine or during

travel.  Since we are on SSO, Google 2FA is bypassed.  We did

figure out a (convoluted) way to make that part of the equation,

but from a user perspective I think it is harder to explain rather than just turning it off.







----

Emily Harris, CISSP

Information Security Officer, CIS

Vassar College

845-437-7221





On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 2:51 PM Valdis Klētnieks <

valdis.kletnieks () vt edu<mailto:valdis.kletnieks () vt edu>> wrote:



On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:09:01 -0400, Emily Harris said:

I am wondering if anyone on this list has turned off IMAP and

POP3

for

their Google domains.



Out of curiosity, what problem are you trying to solve by doing this?

Is there a reason to force "Thou Shalt Use The Web Interface" and

prohibit the use of mail software that processes the mail locally

on the user's computer?







------------------------------



End of SECURITY Digest - 20 Mar 2019 to 21 Mar 2019 (#2019-49)

**************************************************************

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