Common access card required to access work e-mail from home

  • Published
  • By Tyler Hemstreet
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Since Saturday, a Common Access Card has been required to access McChord's Web-based e-mail from a laptop or home computer.

The move to CAC readers on every computer is part of an Air Force mandate to protect the entire network, said 1st Lt. Wayne Solley, 62nd Communications Squadron.

"Our webmail is our most unsecured portion of our infrastructure," Lieutenant Solley said.

The two-tiered security access of possessing a CAC card and personal identification number gives the network a stronger defense against hackers, said Lieutenant Solley.

With the move to requiring a CAC logon for every action on the network, everyone who is using the Web-based e-mail can be securely identified, he said.

Those who want to logon to the Web-based e-mail network must have a CAC reader and the Active Card Gold software on their computer, said 1st Lt. Edgar Aquino, 62nd CS.

Individual units will purchase and issue the CAC readers as authorized by squadron commanders.

The Active Card Gold software can be downloaded on the 62nd intranet Web site at https://comm.McChord.af.mil/software/default.aspx.

Those with questions on the new system should contact their unit computer systems administrator or call the 62nd CS Help Desk at 982- 2666, Lieutenant Solley said.