Information about Iowa IDEA Shutdown on Feb. 16

As you are aware, the Iowa IDEA system had to be shut down last Thursday. The shut down was due to a laptop being stolen at another AEA. The Web IEP and IMS applications were both logged in at the time the computer was stolen. The AEA staff member was only gone for 30 minutes.

The very good news for the security of the data was that there were no password notes taped to the computer. The staff member simply remembers all passwords. Also, the browsers used were not set to remember passwords. This was a big relief to the IMS Center.

Had there been browser-remembered passwords or written passwords attached to the computer, the Iowa IDEA would have considered forcing everyone in the system to create a new password.

In light of last week's event in which the Web IEP/IFSP and IMS needed to be shut down for a period of time, please adopt the following practices:

• If you currently have your web browser remember your Web IEP/IFSP or IMS username and password, please change that setting immediately and delete any currently stored usernames and passwords. (See the instructions below for doing this on the Firefox browser.) If you are using more than one browser to access the Web IEP/IFSP or IMS applications, remember to change security settings on each browser.
• If you have passwords attached to your computer (taped or written somewhere), remove them. If you need a listing of your passwords, consider creating a secure (e.g. encrypted with a password) document. You then only need to remember one password to access the listing of passwords.
• Log out of the Iowa IDEA applications when you leave your workstation.
• Notify Misty Christensen at mchristensen@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 11203 if you believe security has been breached for any of the Iowa IDEA applications.

Clearing Stored Passwords on Firefox Web Browser
• Click “Firefox” on the top menu bar in the upper left corner and select “Preferences.”
• Click “Security” tab on the top menu.
• Uncheck “Remember passwords for sites.” This will disable future passwords for being saved for sites.
• Click on “Saved Passwords…” and then “Show passwords” and confirm to display a list of sites and passwords that are saved.
• Make sure you know all your passwords before you click “Remove all.”

Your username and password habits could end up affecting 10,000 Web IEP, IFSP and IMS consumers. Thank you in advance for taking necessary precautions in keeping student data secure.