Okeechobee County Florida Board of County Commissioners
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Notice of Okeechobee County Website and Email Domain Change
Post Date:03/11/2024
๐ก๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ
Over the last several months Okeechobee County has taken great strides to improve its cybersecurity protections and increase the publicโs confidence in connecting with local government. Across the globe, we continue to see cybercriminals trying to impersonate government employees, websites, and emails to entice people to click on malicious links, spread malware and share personal information or credentials.
To continue with our commitment in providing a secure connection, effective today the Okeechobee County website has transitioned from "co.okeechobee.fl.usโ to โokeechobeecountyfl.govโ, which is a significant transition only authorized with approvals from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In addition, all county email addresses have transitioned to: @okeechobeecountyfl.gov.
โWe want our citizens and all users to trust the links and emails they receive from us. These days, anyone can buy a .com website or email address and use it to spoof Okeechobee County,โ said Chairman Hazellief of the Okeechobee County Board of Commissioners. โHowever, they canโt purchase a .gov domain, so by moving the county to okeechobeecountyfl.gov, weโre increasing security and protecting our citizens from fraud; โ.Govโ domains require stricter security control, which helps protect okeechobeecountyfl.gov users and ensures the content our employees publish is exactly what is received.โ
County Administrator, Deborah Manzo stated โthe good news is, we have redirected the co.okeechobee.fl.us, to the more secure okeechobeecountyfl.gov site, along with all county staff emails being redirected to @okeechobeecountyfl.gov. Our team worked hard to ensure the transition did not affect our services or prevent people from reaching us. All we ask is that everyone take a moment now to update our contact information and adjust the online bookmarks and links, so you do not miss posted announcements, meetings and/or events!โ Over time, the county will phase out all instances of โco.okeechobee.fl.usโ online, in publications and on public-facing signage or materials.
Moving to a .gov site improves the security and searchability of Okeechobee Countyโs online presence, and it ensures visitors are on the official county website, since only qualified U.S.-based government agencies are permitted to use the .gov domain.