September 8, 2026
Easily Report Suspected Phishing Emails
As part of our continued cybersecurity training program being offered through KnowBe4, all district users now have access to the "Phish Alert Button" or PAB. The PAB location varies depending on how you are accessing your email.
Via a web browser:
Find the Phish Alert Button on the right side menu of your Gmail window.
September 1, 2026
Cybersecurity Training
Original email:
Our district’s priority has always been to provide a safe and secure environment for our students and staff. As we rely more on digital tools to enhance learning, we also face a growing landscape of cybersecurity challenges. To stay ahead of these risks, we are excited to partner with The State of Maine Office of Information Technology (Maine OIT), as part of the Maine State & Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) to implement KnowBe4, a leading security awareness training program.
Why Now? The Reality of Cyber Threats in Schools
Schools are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals because of the sensitive student and staff data we manage. Recent data highlights the urgency of this initiative:
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Widespread Impact: According to a 2025 RAND report, 60% of K-12 school principals reported their schools experienced at least one cybersecurity incident in the last year.
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The Phishing Problem: Phishing remains the #1 entry point for attackers, accounting for 45% of school cybersecurity incidents.
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Rising Costs: The average cost of a data breach in the education sector has risen to approximately $3.8 million—funds that should be supporting our classrooms and students.
What We Are Guarding Against
The training provided by KnowBe4 is designed to help us all recognize and prevent the most common threats:
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Phishing & "Quishing": Deceptive emails or QR codes designed to steal your login credentials or personal information.
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Ransomware: Malicious software that can lock down our entire network, disrupting classes and endangering sensitive records.
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Business Email Compromise (BEC): Sophisticated scams where attackers impersonate district leadership or vendors to divert funds.
Next Steps
We understand that your time is valuable and that new technology can sometimes bring questions or technical hurdles. We are in this together.
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Manageable Learning: The training modules are bite-sized, interactive, and designed to be completed at your own pace. The program will issue one training per quarter (so 4 per year).
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Supportive Environment: If you encounter any technical issues or have concerns about a suspicious email, our IT team is ready to assist. There are no "gotchas"—this is a learning tool to build our collective resilience.
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A "Human Firewall": This project isn't just about software; it’s about empowering you to be our strongest line of defense.
Thank you for your dedication to keeping our district safe and secure. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out as we will be compiling an FAQ document to answer all of your questions!
August 31, 2026
Important Information About Tech Tickets
- Don't submit multiple tickets for the same issue. While it may seem like we didn't see your original request, we did and submitting it again just clutters up the ticketing system making it harder for us to get to all of the requests—it doesn't make us get to your request any faster.
- Stick to the facts. Details about what the issue is are helpful but explaining how important your issues are or how often you use the tool that isn't working isn't helpful. Our technology team has worked in the educational space for many years and we understand the importance of technology tools to your classroom or office and we are well-versed in prioritizing these issues. We are responding to literally hundreds of tickets right now and every ticket can't be first in line.
- Use the ticketing system. With this many requests coming in, it is important to keep our work organized in one place—IncidentIQ—so all tech staff can see everything and jump in where they can. Emails to individual technicians are much more likely to get lost and it reduces the number of people available to help with your issue.
- Be patient. Everyone in the tech department is working extremely hard to take care of as many tickets as we can, as quickly as we can. This means long days and tired tech staff, but we are committed to getting to every issue. Please treat the tech staff with respect and patience as they try to help you.
August 26, 2026
Important Tech Updates
We typically handle this setup at the last minute to account for fluctuating student rosters. Between these enrollment changes and the ongoing staff laptop rollout, the tech department is working hard to catch up.
July 22, 2026
POP and IMAP access will be disabled
Access to POP and IMAP for legacy email clients is not as secure as using official Gmail platforms, such as web or mobile. Changing these settings to OFF will force users to have to use the Gmail platforms. Leaving it ON creates a data compliance issue.
January 30, 2026
Phishing Emails
IT Services recently responded to a security incident involving a targeted social engineering (phishing) attack. IT Services has confirmed the following malicious indicators of compromise (IOCs):
Email Subject Lines:
- MTBLUE ITEMS SALES
- ITEMS FOR SALE
- Employee W - 2 Update
- Document shared with you: "Important Payroll Updates Effective by Christian M. Elkington Superintendent.docx"
These emails were not legitimate communications and were designed to trick recipients into providing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links. If you interacted with any of the malicious emails (opened the shared document, clicked on a link or corresponded with anyone via an email address listed in the email) please take the following immediate actions:
Change your Google account password immediately.
- Go to your Google Account at myaccount.google.com.
- On the left navigation panel, click Personal info.
- Under "Profile," click Password. You might need to sign in.
- Enter your new password, then click Change Password.
- Please choose a strong, unique password that you haven't used before.
Log out of your Google account on all devices you are logged in on. To do this:
- Go to your Google Account at myaccount.google.com.
- On the left navigation panel, click Security.
- Under "Your devices," click Manage all devices.
- You’ll see devices where you’re currently signed in to your Google Account. If you see any devices you don’t recognize or that you no longer use, click the carat (>) next to the device and select Sign out.
Confirm that Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account. MFA adds an extra layer of security to your account, making it much harder for unauthorized individuals to gain access, even if they have your password. To enable MFA:
- Go to your Google Account at myaccount.google.com.
- On the left navigation panel, click Security.
- Under "How you sign in," click 2-Step Verification.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to set up MFA using your preferred method (e.g., phone prompts, authenticator app, security key). If you need assistance, please refer to the district guidance communication: Moving to MFA.
If you use the same username and password for your Google account on other websites or services, you should change your login credentials on those platforms as well. This is crucial because if your Google account information has been compromised, those other accounts may also be at risk.
If you downloaded any attachments from the suspicious email, do not open them. These attachments may contain malicious software. Please contact the IT Department immediately at (207) 779-9888 or techhelp@mtbluersd.org for guidance on how to safely handle them.
If you provided any personal or financial information in response to the email or on a linked website, please contact the IT Department immediately at (207) 779-9888 or techhelp@mtbluersd.org. This information could be used for malicious purposes. You may also want to contact your bank and/or credit card companies to alert them to the situation.
This incident is a critical reminder to always be vigilant when checking your email. Phishing attempts are designed to trick you. Always be suspicious of emails that create a strong sense of urgency, request your password, or ask for personal information. Look closely at the sender's email address and check for poor grammar or spelling, as these are common red flags.
December 30, 2025
PowerSchool - Isaac Libby
- Put in a tech support ticket using the iiQ portal (select New Ticket > Technology Support > PowerSchool SIS or select the PowerSchool SIS Quick Ticket at the top of your iiQ dashboard)
- Email powerschool@mtbluersd.org. This will create a ticket in our system and automatically assign it to Isaac.
- Once you have created a ticket using one of the above methods, any correspondence related to your request will come from MBRSD Helpdesk. Be sure to check your email and respond to any requests.
- You can still call extension 4129 for urgent matters but for all non-urgent issues, please use the ticketing system to request support!
December 10, 2025
Stay Vigilant - Cyber Grinches
As we head into the festive season, we want to wish you all a joyful, relaxing, and safe holiday break filled with good cheer!
While you’re shopping online for last-minute gifts, clicking on e-cards from “Santa” or checking those too-good-to-be-true holiday deals, please remember to stay vigilant. Cyber grinches are extra active this time of year.
A quick reminder:
- Think before you click – phishing emails and texts often disguise themselves as delivery updates, e-vouchers, or charity appeals.
- Shop only on trusted websites (look for https:// and the padlock).
- Avoid public Wi-Fi for banking or sensitive transactions.
- Keep your devices and apps updated.
- If something feels off (unexpected requests for passwords, urgent payment demands, strange links), pause and verify – reach out to IT or the sender through a known channel.
- The 'Amazon return' is a common scam. Amazon will never contact you and need to connect to your computer to help with a return.
- If you *do* make a mistake, let us know! Don't be embarrassed, we are happy to help make sure you stay secure after a cybersecurity incident.
Your safety matters to us year-round, but especially now. Let’s keep the holiday spirit joyful and scam-free! Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.
December 5, 2025
Google Meet Restriction - Students
As of Friday afternoon, student Google accounts have been configured to restrict their ability to start a Google Meet call. This change does not affect staff accounts and it does not restrict a student's ability to join a Google Meet call created by another user. Please let me know if this change causes an issue with your teaching.
November 17, 2025
GMAIL - District Populated Email Addresses
Due to a number of recent security incidents involving compromised student accounts, we have limited access to the domain directory to only staff accounts. Students will no longer see all email addresses in our domain when they start typing in the To: field of a new email. The list will still populate with any addresses that they have previously emailed as those addresses are automatically added to a users "other contacts" list in their own contact app. They will also still be able to email anyone they want but they will need to know the address of the person they want to communicate with and will have to type out the entire address.
November 5, 2025
IncidentIQ Support Portal
We're currently developing two new categories of support requests that will eventually be available through iiQ:
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Facilities Requests (e.g., maintenance, repairs)
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Event Scheduling Requests (e.g., reserving district spaces)
Important Note on the New Options
While you may see these new options listed in the portal as we continue development, they are not yet operational or ready for staff use.
Please continue to use the existing processes for submitting facilities and event scheduling requests for the time being. We will send a formal announcement and provide training before these new features are officially launched and ready for you to use.
October 16, 2025
District Website Updates
In an effort to keep our district website as up to date and fresh as possible, we are implementing a district-wide process to allow staff to send along information for our webmaster to use to update the various pages. Click this link access the Form. You are encouraged to bookmark this link as well, so you can send updates whenever you need to.
Once complete, the request will be sent to our ticketing system so we can get to work on them! If we have questions, we'll communicate through the ticketing system so keep your eyes open for emails from MBRSD Helpdesk.
September 23, 2024
YouTube Videos
Google recently made changes to our Google Workspace for Education account that impacts how students can access YouTube.
For security and privacy reasons, Google has updated its policy to restrict general access to YouTube for all students in OUs not designated as over 18. This means students will no longer be able to freely browse or search for videos on YouTube using their school accounts.
However, students will still be able to watch videos when they are provided with a direct link. To ensure your students can continue to access educational content, please link any necessary videos directly within your Google Classroom assignments, announcements, or materials. This method will allow them to view the content without having to navigate the full YouTube platform.
- Technology Integration and Support Questionnaire
- PowerSchool SSO
- Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Security Upgrades
- iPad Update Sessions
- Swank
- Printing and Copying
- Technology Grants
- PaperCut
- App/Digital Resource Approval Process
- Google Chrome Extensions
- New App Request Procedure
- AI/ChatGPT
- Phone Changes
- Phishing and Cybersecurity Awareness
- Summer Technology Institute
- Managed Apple IDs
- Device Software and Security Updates
- Google Chrome Apps and Extensions
- New Helpdesk Ticketing System