As many of you get data from the USGS, the following should be
of interest to members of this board.

I will prepare a listing of alternative earthquake data sites
where earthquake data can be obtained without going through
the USGS and post it later this morning.

To all subscribers to the USGS bigquake E-mail distribution list:

The Bigquake List is temporarily out of order.

The following memo was just received by all USGS employees. At this point
no one is sure how long
this will affect E-mail distribution.

John Lahr

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Subject: Disconnecting E-mail and Internet Access
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 15:27:31 -0500
From: Director's_Office@usgs.gov
To: USGS_All@usgs.gov

From: Chip Groat

To: All USGS Employees Nationwide

Subject: Disconnecting E-mail and Internet Access

At the direction of the Office of the Secretary, the USGS has been ordered to
immediately disconnect all of its external network connections due to
security concerns of the Court in the Cobell v. Norton case. As a result,
all USGS users will not be able to:

\267 Send or receive Internet email
\267 Send or receive email outside of USGS
\267 Access the Internet
\267 Access FPPS

In addition, all USGS customers will not be able to:

\267 Access USGS web pages
\267 Send email or receive email from USGS

These measures were ordered by the Court after the Special Master for the
Cobell litigation hired a contractor to conduct penetration testing of Indian
Trust Management systems resulting in a compromise of those systems. As a
result, all Bureaus must take these measures.

Cost centers that have their own ISP service must work with their provider to
filter all public access to their web and email. Cost centers should provide
a contact name and phone number to receive notification of ability to
reinstate services.

It is unknown at this time how long these measures will be in place. The
Department is working with the Court to discuss the security of our systems
and the restoration of the affected connections. In the interim, users may
wish to contact their frequent business contacts and make arrangements to
conduct business by telephone and fax. I understand that these measures have
serious consequences to our ability to meet our mission and I ask for your
understanding until such time as the Court sees fit to allow us to restore
these services.

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