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News Release

07-05-23 Douglas County Transitions To Dot Gov Domain - 07/05/23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 5, 2023

             

Douglas County Transitions to Dot Gov Domain

 

                (Douglas County, Ore.)  As a part of increased cybersecurity efforts, Douglas County Commissioners Tom Kress, Chris Boice, and Tim Freeman, in conjunction with the Douglas County Information Technology Department announced that the Douglas County website and internal email system are in the process of transitioning to the dot gov domain.  The plan is to have all systems transitioned by Monday, July 10, 2023.  The Douglas County government website address will switch from www.douglascounty-oregon.us to www.douglascountyor.gov and county staff email addresses will now end with @douglascountyor.gov.  The change comes as local, regional, national, and international governments, businesses and private organizations continue to be bombarded with cyber-attacks, ransom demands and security system breaches. 

 

So, why is Douglas County migrating to douglascountyor.gov?  Most importantly, government entities should be easily identified and verified on the internet and using a dot gov domain shows the website and/or email is secure and official. The public shouldn’t have to guess whether the website they are using or the email that lands in their inbox is truly from a real government agency.  You see, anyone can register a dot com or dot org domain for a fee, and as long as they pay their domain fee, they do not have to verify whether their real-life name corresponds to a real-life service, business, or agency.  This is not the case with dot gov domains.  They are only issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).  CISA sponsors the dot gov domain, a top-level domain (TLD), and makes it available solely to U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities.  Only United States government agencies can have a dot gov domain, meaning our emails are less likely to get caught in other agencies spam filters.  Additionally, using the dot gov domain increases security for government agencies. Multi-factor authentication or two-step verification is enforced on all accounts in the .gov registrar, which is very different from the dot com and dot org commercial registrars.  Dot gov also requires browsers to only use a secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) connection with our website. HTTPS protects visitors’ privacy and ensures that the content we publish is exactly what was received or intended.

 

So, what does this mean for the general public?  Basically, on the surface, not much will look different for the general public.  While we will have a new .gov domain, the old website and email addresses will continue to work seamlessly for many years to come. All your saved Douglas County Department links and @co.douglas.or.us email addresses will continue to work. When visiting the Douglas County Government website from an old link or the old address, you will be forwarded to the new www.douglascountyor.gov domain, and the content will remain the same (just more secure).  Behind the scenes, the website and email system will be better prepared, safe, and ready for any cyber-attacks.  Additionally, as a cost-saving measure, we will only be updating business cards, department letterhead and other materials when new cards or materials are necessary.  

 

You can now be assured that when visiting douglascountyor.gov that you are indeed doing business with Douglas County, Oregon government.

 

###

 

Media Contact:     Tamara Howell, Douglas County Emergency Communications & Community Engagement Specialist, Douglas County Public Affairs Office | Office: (541) 957-4896 | Cell: (541) 670-2804 | Email: tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us

07-05-23 Douglas County Transitions To Dot Gov Domain - 07/05/23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 5, 2023

             

Douglas County Transitions to Dot Gov Domain

 

                (Douglas County, Ore.)  As a part of increased cybersecurity efforts, Douglas County Commissioners Tom Kress, Chris Boice, and Tim Freeman, in conjunction with the Douglas County Information Technology Department announced that the Douglas County website and internal email system are in the process of transitioning to the dot gov domain.  The plan is to have all systems transitioned by Monday, July 10, 2023.  The Douglas County government website address will switch from www.douglascounty-oregon.us to www.douglascountyor.gov and county staff email addresses will now end with @douglascountyor.gov.  The change comes as local, regional, national, and international governments, businesses and private organizations continue to be bombarded with cyber-attacks, ransom demands and security system breaches. 

 

So, why is Douglas County migrating to douglascountyor.gov?  Most importantly, government entities should be easily identified and verified on the internet and using a dot gov domain shows the website and/or email is secure and official. The public shouldn’t have to guess whether the website they are using or the email that lands in their inbox is truly from a real government agency.  You see, anyone can register a dot com or dot org domain for a fee, and as long as they pay their domain fee, they do not have to verify whether their real-life name corresponds to a real-life service, business, or agency.  This is not the case with dot gov domains.  They are only issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).  CISA sponsors the dot gov domain, a top-level domain (TLD), and makes it available solely to U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities.  Only United States government agencies can have a dot gov domain, meaning our emails are less likely to get caught in other agencies spam filters.  Additionally, using the dot gov domain increases security for government agencies. Multi-factor authentication or two-step verification is enforced on all accounts in the .gov registrar, which is very different from the dot com and dot org commercial registrars.  Dot gov also requires browsers to only use a secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) connection with our website. HTTPS protects visitors’ privacy and ensures that the content we publish is exactly what was received or intended.

 

So, what does this mean for the general public?  Basically, on the surface, not much will look different for the general public.  While we will have a new .gov domain, the old website and email addresses will continue to work seamlessly for many years to come. All your saved Douglas County Department links and @co.douglas.or.us email addresses will continue to work. When visiting the Douglas County Government website from an old link or the old address, you will be forwarded to the new www.douglascountyor.gov domain, and the content will remain the same (just more secure).  Behind the scenes, the website and email system will be better prepared, safe, and ready for any cyber-attacks.  Additionally, as a cost-saving measure, we will only be updating business cards, department letterhead and other materials when new cards or materials are necessary.  

 

You can now be assured that when visiting douglascountyor.gov that you are indeed doing business with Douglas County, Oregon government.

 

###

 

Media Contact:     Tamara Howell, Douglas County Emergency Communications & Community Engagement Specialist, Douglas County Public Affairs Office | Office: (541) 957-4896 | Cell: (541) 670-2804 | Email: tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us