[Infowarrior] - DOD bars use of HTML e-mail, Outlook Web Access

[Richard Forno]

(better late than never.....rf)

DOD bars use of HTML e-mail, Outlook Web Access

BY Bob Brewin
Published on Dec. 22, 2006
http://www.fcw.com/article97178-12-22-06-Web

Due to an increased network threat condition, the Defense Department is
blocking all HTML-based e-mail messages and has banned the use of Outlook
Web Access e-mail applications, according to a spokesman for the Joint Task
Force for Global Network Operations.

An internal message available on the Internet from the Defense Security
Service (DSS) states that JTF-GNO raised the network threat condition from
Information Condition 5, which indicates normal operating conditions, to
Infocon 4 ³in the face of continuing and sophisticated threats² against
Defense Department networks.

Infocon 4 usually indicates heightened vigilance in preparation for
operations or exercises or increased monitoring of networks due to increased
risk of attack.

The JTF-GNO mandated use of plain text e-mail because HTML messages pose a
threat to DOD because HTML text can be infected with spyware and, in some
cases, executable code that could enable intruders to gain access to DOD
networks, the JTF-GNO spokesman said.

In an e-mail to Federal Computer Week, a Navy user said that any HTML
messages sent to his account are automatically converted to plain text.

The JTF-GNO spokesman declined to say why the command raised the threat
level except to say that Infocon levels are adjusted to reflect worldwide
social and political events and activities. He said the current threat level
does not bar the use of attachments, including Power Point slides used for
briefings.

He also declined to tell FCW what other restrictions on e-mail that JTF-GNO
has imposed. But a December 2006 newsletter of the Colorado National Guard
said that under Infocon 4, Guard members receiving e-mails from any unknown
source, including ³mail received from unrecognized Department of Defense
accounts,² should be viewed as potentially harmful.

The Colorado Guard newsletter also alerted personnel to be vigilant against
e-mail ³phishing² attempts to gain personal information.

The ban on use of Outlook Web mail will hit thousands of users at Robins Air
Force Base, Ga., according to an internal message available on the Internet.
The ban on the use of Outlook Web Access ³will significantly impact the way
we presently conduct business,² due to the fact that that Web mail is the
primary means of e-mail access for 4,500 employees at the base, according to
the message.

Robins has developed a work-around for these users to access Outlook
directly by logging on to government computers with their common access
cards, the internal message said.

JTF-GNO raised the DOD network threat level to Infocon 4 in mid-November
after an attack on the networks at the Naval War College (NWC) required NWC
to take its systems offline. The JTF-GNO spokesman said at the time that the
increase in threat conditions had no relation to the attack against NWC.