Good afternoon,
Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate through this access outage. You will find a comprehensive list of helpful FAQS at the end of this post. These FAQs will also be available via e-mail, and we are working to post them on the Student Support site as well. We will be continuing to update this list as more items arise, including the addition of the questions gathered from today’s Zoom forum.
In addition to the FAQS we also have an important update from Technology Support Services (TSS) which is listed below.
On Campus Printing
We have enabled all Ricoh printers on-campus to print from and scan to a USB/Flash drive. Here are some helpful instructions to assist you.
Printing from a USB/Flash Drive:
- Ensure document/file is saved on the flash drive.
- Insert flash drive on the left side of the printer control panel.
- Press “PRINTER” button or Printer icon.
- Press “PRINT FROM MEMORY STORAGE DEVICE”\
- Press “MEM.DEVICE” icon
- SELECT FILES you need to print from flash drive
- Press “START PRINTING”
- Scroll down (if necessary) by pressing or
- Wait until printing is done
- Press “UP ONE LEVEL” button before unplugging flash drive.
Scanning to a Flash Drive/USB
- Insert flash drive on the left side of the printer control panel.
- Press “SCANNER” button or Scanner icon
- Press “STORE FILE”
- Press “STORE TO MEMORY DEVICE”
- Press “OK”
- Press “START” button
- When you see “WRITING COMPLETE…” message, press “EXIT”
- When done, press “RESET” button
- Remove Flash Drive.
Thank you!
Cat Chiappa
Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing
support@shoreline.edu
Access Outage FAQs
General Info
| Question |
Answer |
| Is Shoreline the only Community or Technical College impacted? |
- Some sister colleges have been impacted in the past, and this is a nationwide issue that other institutions have experienced previously.
- At this time, we are not aware of any current issues at other institutions.
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| Is there a way to find out how it happened?
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- We are currently working with external agencies and are in the process of analyzing our systems to identify the source and the total extent of impact.
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| Do we have a timeline? |
- We are currently investigating and assessing. We cannot provide an estimated timeline.
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| How long has it taken for other colleges to go back online?
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- It depends on the college and their situation, so we are not able to provide a timeline to be back online.
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| Without sharing sensitive information – has the college been contacted and do we know what the people who orchestrated the attack want? |
- We are working with local and outside authorities and are not able to address that at this time.
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| Is the College open? What services are currently available? How do I contact them?
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- The college is still open. Services are available both in-person and remotely. Here is a list of contact information for various offices.
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| Where can I find information?
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| Is SCC email still available?
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- Student, faculty, and staff email is still available. Students can access their email by going to Gmail and signing in with your @go.shoreline.edu address.
- Employees can go to Outlook.com > Sign in
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| Is ctcLink impacted?
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- No, ctcLink is a cloud-based solution that is housed by the State Board.
- If you are off the campus network, you can access it.
|
Laptops and Security
| Question |
Answer |
| Do we have any assurance that our laptops are safe? I am concerned about logging in from my work computer on my home wi-fi as this could expose the home network. |
- Most laptops use Intune which is a cloud-based management service, and as such they do not currently appear to be affected.
|
| Did student/ staff information get compromised? Our Workforce grant requires that we work with DSHS in case of a breach.
|
- We are currently working with several external agencies to identify what has been potentially accessed. We will continue to provide updates as we have more information.
- We will comply with any legal notification obligations in connection with the incident.
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| Should we avoid using VPN (virtual private network)?
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- VPN is unavailable at this time.
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| I am unable to get authentication from home – am I doing something wrong
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- This should work, but you can try clearing your cache in your web browser.
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| Is signing into Canvas at shoreline.instructure.com safe for home laptops?
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- Yes, it is safe; it is completely cloud-based and separate from our network.
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| There was an announcement that a security patch is available for Windows 365. Should we be making that update on our laptops?
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- Yes, it is always best practice to update security whenever you are prompted to do so.
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| I noticed that QR codes that had direct links to pages on our website were still working. Are those safe to continue using? |
- If you have concerns about any QR codes on campus do not scan them.
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| When can we expect to hear to what extent students’ and employees’ sensitive data (SSNs, etc.) is compromised?
|
- Currently, we are undergoing analysis to determine what the entire impact is to the college and campus community.
- Once we know more, appropriate notifications will be sent out as appropriate.
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| I logged into Canvas and ctcLink and email over the weekend (both days) and early enough this morning that I discovered www.shoreline.edu unavailable (that 404-error message) via a very secure computer on my home network. |
- We do not believe there are additional malware risks from accessing campus platforms.
|
| “How short is the quickest return from ransomware for any of the ctcLink colleges? How long the longest?” |
- We are not able to project this at this time.
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| We work with DSHS and have been told SharePoint isn’t secure enough for them. Do you have any suggestions for us? |
- We will reach out to them and follow-up.
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| Do people need to be worried about what they are clicking on? Will it exacerbate things or make them worse?
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- Regardless of the situation, people should always be aware and ensure things are coming from a known or legitimate source.
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| How do you know if a link is legitimate?
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- When testing the legitimacy of links, you can look at who the sender is.
- Make sure the name matches up with the e-mail, and that it is something you are expecting
- If you’re using Outlook or Microsoft resources, whenever you click on a link in an outlook e-mail is does a check on the URL before you route over to that
- Be very cautious.
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Student Info (Finals, Classes, Technology Access)
| Question |
Answer |
| General Questions |
| I am a new student. How does this impact me?
|
- New students do not currently have access to create their network accounts if they do not have one already.
- This means that students will not be able to login into Canvas or their student e-mail.
- This is a priority for the college, and we are currently working to resolve this issue.
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| How do I know what systems I CAN access?
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| Can students access ctcLink?
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- Register for classes
- Make a payment (encourage students to contact Cashiers)
- View your class schedule
- View your grades (when available)
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| Can I access Canvas?
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- View course materials
- Contact your instructor/classmates
- For Spring quarter, classes typically post the first day of the quarter.
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| Can I access Starfish?
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| When can I talk to someone about my questions? |
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| Do we know if this will last into spring quarter? |
- It is not yet known how long this outage will last. Most college resources are available remotely during this time.
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| Are the students in the residence hall impacted? |
- Students in residential halls have a separate wireless system and shouldn’t be impacted technologically.
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| Finals |
| Are we expecting that this will continue through finals?
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- We have no present ETA for resolution at this time, but we would expect that to be the case.
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| Are my finals/classes moving to remote?
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- In-person finals will continue as planned whenever possible, and further updates about upcoming classes will be sent out as available. Students should connect to their faculty members through Canvas. Faculty should connect with their dean if they are unsure about the appropriate status.
|
| Class Info |
| Are lab classrooms on the network? |
- Computers here on campus are affected and it is not possible to sign on to machines right now.
- If you are accessing a cloud-based software, you can do so remotely
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| Can I register for classes through ctcLink?
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- Yes, you can. You can view AND register for courses in ctcLink.
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| Where can I check my grades?
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- You can view your grades in ctcLink after Wednesday, March 29.
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| Why are my classes not showing up in Starfish or ctcLink?
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- Students may experience a delay in their new courses being updated in Starfish and ctcLink.
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Student Resources
| How does this impact students who receive accommodation from Student Accessibility Services?
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- Students should not experience a disruption in the support they receive from SAS. SAS is available remotely and has limited in-person presence.
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| Are Counseling Services still available?
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- Counseling Services are available remotely. To schedule an appointment with a counselor, call 206-546-5494 and leave a message.
- Additional resources that are available include:
- King County Crisis Line: 1-866-427-4747
- Snohomish County Crisis Line: 800-584-3578
- National Suicide Prevention Line (talk or text): 988
|
| Are Enrollment Services still available?
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- Enrollment Services is available for in-person and virtual support for the following:
- Adding a class/registration
- Ordering transcripts
- Diploma questions
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| How do I order my books?
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| Is Academic Advising open to walk-in appointments?
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- Advising is available for limited in-person appointments.
- International academic advisors can be reached at ieadvisors@shoreline.edu or call 206-546-4697 for updated Zoom drop-in hours.
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| Is the PUB still open?
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- The PUB will be available during normal hours although wi-fi access may not be available (or may be limited).
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| Is the Library still open?
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| Is the Benefits Hub still open?
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- Housing assistance
- Food access
- Transportation assistance
- Tax prep help
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| Is tutoring still available?
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| Can I print on campus?
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- Yes, limited printing is available in the library. You need to bring a USB (thumb) drive with you to plug into the printer in order to be able to print.
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| Is the Testing Center still open?
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- The testing center is open for both in-person and online support.
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Financial Aid and Student Payment
| Question |
Answer |
| Has the student payment processing problem been resolved for new students registering? Continuing Ed students can register via Campus CE, but still not pay.
|
- There was a broken link they are working to fix, which does not appear related to this issue. We hope to have more information soon.
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| Can students pay tuition/fees at the Shoreline Support Center?
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- They will need to pay through ctcLink, which is linked via the Shoreline Support Center.If this process does not work, then see the next comment about pay by phone.
|
| How can I pay for my tuition? |
- You can pay for your tuition with a Visa or Mastercard by contacting the Cashiers Office at 206-546-7850 and leaving a voicemail for callback or e-mailing accountsreceivable@shoreline.edu.
|
| Will I be dropped from my classes for non-payment?
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- The college will delay the drop-for-nonpayment process for students this spring classes due to these access concerns. Students are strongly encouraged to make a payment for their tuition as soon as possible to avoid being dropped from their classes in the future.
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| How will this impact scholarships from the Foundation?
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| Can I (still) set up a payment plan?
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- Yes, you can set up a payment plan via ctcLink; follow these instructions.
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Faculty/Staff Information
| General Info |
| Can you please tell us again how to contact students by e-mail?
|
- You can contact students directly through Canvas or message them directly through CtcLink
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| Is there a workaround for us to let students into Canvas courses, even if they cannot activate their Shoreline Network accounts?
|
- We are currently working on this issue.
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| Spring Quarter |
| Do we know if this will last into spring quarter?
|
- Currently, we do not have enough information to make a clear determination on this.
- This week we are holding schedule adjustment meetings and hope to have more information soon to see what is possible if need be. What we do know is that
- Most in-person classes can run
- Online classes will run
- We are looking into what options we can run for hybrid classes.
|
| Can we link the Spring schedule on the support.shoreline.edu site linking wa070.ctclink.us there directly?
|
- The Web team can link whatever support articles are needed to support the college.
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| Clarification question: I understand that students can still enroll via ctcLink—-but will students who register for a spring class *now* via ctcLink show up in spring Canvas shells?
|
- If they were previously registered, they will show up.
- If they just applied today and registered for a class, they will not automatically show up because our software does that, and we are working to come up with a solution.
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| Finals and Final Grades |
| Are we expecting that this will continue through finals?
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- We have no present ETA for resolution, but we would expect that to be the case.
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| We have loaner computers that we use for testing. If we use a hotspot, can we download exams and use those computers? We don’t need wi-fi access during the exam.
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- IPads should be fine to hotspot for exam download.
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| Students who are normally using on-campus lab computers (i.e., in the VCT lab) due to not having computer access at home, will need to finish projects next quarter, as lab computers and software require online and server licensing.
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- It is likely students/faculty will have to push those projects out until these issues are resolved.
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International Education
| Question |
Answer |
| Should we assume ISM will be down as long as this issue persists?
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|
System Access for Admin and Faculty
| Question |
Answer |
| Does this affect Report Server and Formstack?
|
- Access is currently down for Report Server. CtcLink queries are working, so contact Institutional Reseach for help @ cpastore@shoreline.edu .
- Formstack: Some data and forms can be filled out, but it won’t feed into our local system at this time.
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| Our AIM (Accessible Information Management) syncs with the servers, is that daily update suspended? AIM is web based and we have accommodated testers we manage through AIM including downloading, updating, and editing testing related work.
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- Any updates coming from on campus systems are suspended
- However, most of the data should already be there for what people are registered for regarding the current week
- More information is needed on what this will mean for new classes.
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| There are several Important financial reports due soon, e.g., IPEDS Finance Survey, 2022 HERF Annual report that need work to complete. Possible extensions?
|
- Stay tuned for more info on this. We will work together to contact the necessary partners and take whatever measures we need to.
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| Will Flywire be impacted?
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- Flywire is a cloud-based application so access should not be impacted
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| Several areas need access to the shared drive and remote desktop in order to avoid significantly impacting work. Do we have any idea when access might be restored to certain items like this?
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- Currently there is no estimated time for service restoration
- Within your unit you could start a SharePoint folder and pull files from e-mail to help recreate some files
- Be careful if you go this route though, because if you do this without working with TSS you may have some access issues in the future
|
| Can we access 25live? If so, Q for Jenifer A: can a report be pulled to notify all Faculty teaching a final in a lab (1300s, 1401) this week that they need to move finals online? |
- Yes, it is available
- Yes, Faculty are aware that alternate arrangement needs to be made.
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| Do we have access to tape (right word?) backups from Friday or before if we need mission-critical data? (Specifically thinking about the shared drive) |
- We are working with backup providers to verify access to and integrity of backup data. Shoreline has not used tape backups for quite a few years.
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Human Resources
| Question |
Answer |
| Will this affect hiring committees/NEOGOV?
|
- Hiring will not be affected. People should plan to attend all meetings and interviews online this week
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| To what extent will this affect payroll processing, if any?
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- Currently, we have payroll almost done and do not anticipate anything impacting that today.
- Payroll is largely out of the scope of what was impacted.
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| Will this mean that we will need to work when we are off contract? Can the union speak to this?
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- We have reached out to both unions and will be working with faculty and classified unions on anything that deviates from regular practices to help people in the transition.
- Anything outside of normal requirements we will be working with the unions on.
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| Should staff be working remotely until this is resolved? |
- It depends on the staff and their needs.
- Campus is NOT closed, just moved to remote services where we cannot provide them in person on campus
- Nothing is wrong with campus other than that we can’t access our normal systems.
- PCC continues to be open- childcare does not require an online service to provide
- Security will remain working onsite
- Instructional lab techs can do work in person.
- If you can do your work here, or some of your work here, you can be onsite
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