FOIA - Shared Mailboxes (email) (Mayor's Office)

Dear J Ader:

Thank you for your interest in public records of the City of Las Vegas. Your request was received on 11/13/2022 and is being processed. We will respond within five business days by providing one of the following:



1. We will complete the request by providing the requested records,

2. We will provide you with the estimated date of completion of your request,

3. We will provide a partial installment and inform you of the schedule for future installments,

4. We will ask for clarification if your request is unclear,

5. We will direct you to the City’s website to access the records requested, or

6. We may deny the request because no responsive records exist.


Record Requested: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Nevada Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

A CSV export of your agency's Shared Mailboxes (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/email/about-shared-mailboxes?view=o365-worldwide for more info ) including the following parameters for every shared mailbox:

- Primary SMTP Address
- Date Created

A simple way to retrieve this is by having a member of IT (such as a System Administrator) run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell (if email is hosted in a Microsoft Exchange environment):

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -RecipientTypeDetails SharedMailbox | Select Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,WhenCreated | Export-CSV -Path .\SharedMailboxes_$((Get-Date).ToString('MM-dd-yyyy_hh-mm-ss')).csv

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

J Ader

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below. Again, you will receive an official response within five business days and an additional notification when your request has been completed. Thank you for submitting a Public Records Request. Your request was given the reference number W048389-111322 for tracking purposes.

City of Las Vegas Please note: There is a charge for copies of public records. If the estimated cost of the copies requested is $25.00 or more, the requestor will be required to pay in full prior to reproduction. Materials will be held for 14 days. If not retrieved, the requestor will be charged in full for a second reproduction in addition to any unpaid original charges. Advance payment will be forfeited if material is not retrieved.
To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the Public Records Center.

--- Please respond above this line ---

11/22/2022
J Ader
MuckRock News, DEPT MR136650 263 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02115
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of 11/13/2022 for: " To Whom It May Concern:", Reference # W048389-111322.

Pursuant to the Nevada Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

A CSV export of your agency's Shared Mailboxes (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/email/about-shared-mailboxes?view=o365-worldwide for more info ) including the following parameters for every shared mailbox:

- Primary SMTP Address
- Date Created

A simple way to retrieve this is by having a member of IT (such as a System Administrator) run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell (if email is hosted in a Microsoft Exchange environment):

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -RecipientTypeDetails SharedMailbox | Select Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,WhenCreated | Export-CSV -Path .\SharedMailboxes_$((Get-Date).ToString('MM-dd-yyyy_hh-mm-ss')).csv

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

J Ader

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

Please be advised This request involves multiple departments in the City of Las Vegas and as such there may be a delay as they retrieve the remaining requested records.Additional time is required to research all related files/records.Thank you for your patience on this request.
We will contact you with further information within .
Robin Heck
Information Technologies
City of Las Vegas
Phone 702-229-2410
Your opinion matters to us! Please take this 2-minute survey and let us know how we can improve your experience requesting records from the City of Las Vegas. Please note there is a charge for copies of public records. If the estimated cost of the copies requested is $25.00 or more, the requester will be required to pay in full prior to reproduction. Materials will be held for 14 days. If not retrieved, the requester will be charged in full for a second reproduction in addition to any unpaid original charges. Advance payment will be forfeited if material is not retrieved.

--- Please respond above this line ---
Here is the City’s response to your request from the Las Vegas Office of the City Attorney. Mr. Ader, Thank you for your records request.  However, concerning City of Las Vegas shared mailbox e-mail addresses, please be advised that the City of Las Vegas will not be providing these shared mailbox e-mail addresses to you. First, while content that relates to the business of government sent through or to a government email address can qualify as a public record pursuant to NRS 239, the email address itself is not a public record.  Such email address is a means to send or receive a potential record, akin to a mailbox.  The receptacle of a potential record is not a record, but merely a receptacle.   Since the shared mailbox e-mail addresses do not qualify as public records, such addresses will not be provided pursuant to your request. Second, if an email address itself was to be found to be a public record by the Eighth Judicial District Court, the Nevada Supreme Court balancing test adopted pursuant to Donrey v.  Bradshaw, 798 P.2d 144 (1990), permits a City of Las Vegas to withhold a record where the government’s interest in withholding such record(s) outweighs the public rights to access such records. In this case, the City has been subject to malware attacks from anonymous sources in the recent past, and one means for digital thieves to gain access to the City’s computer network is through “phishing attempts” sent to individual City of Las Vegas email addresses.  The City of Las Vegas must withhold shared mailbox email addresses because our need to safeguard our computer system from grievous harm outweighs the public’s right to access these email addresses in the bulk form as you have requested. In addition, many, if not all, of the shared mailbox addresses were created for specific sensitive administrative purposes.  Here are several prime examples: 1)         A Department of Public Safety shared mailbox is used to receive requests from City employees to receive keycard access to any singular door protected by a keycard reader, such as the City Jail, City Council Chambers, or the City Council floor and offices, including each individual City Council office and the Mayor’s office.  If any of these shared mailboxes e-mail addresses were spoofed, or obtained by a person desiring to cause harm to the City or an employee of the City, a person could imitate a City employee and obtain keycard access through that particular shared mailbox.  The City must safeguard access to our most sensitive areas, and that need outweighs the public’s right to access the shared mailbox e-mail addresses in the bulk form as you have requested. 2)         An Information Technologies shared mailbox is used to receive security alerts from our cyber security tools, as well as communicate among the employee security team.  A compromise of this account or a spoofing of this account could result in a person intending harm to pose as a member of the IT Security Team to misdirect efforts to resolve security issues. The City must safeguard access to our sensitive IT security alerts and allow for protected communications amongst our IT employees, and those needs outweigh the public’s right to access the shared mailbox e-mail addresses in the bulk form as you have requested. 3)         One of many Emergency Management Operations shared mailboxes are used to communicate real-time, sensitive emergency information amongst multiple emergency departments, such as the Fire Department, the Marshal’s office, the City Attorney’s office and the City Manager’s office.  Spoofing of one of these shared mailboxes, or a compromise of one of these mailboxes could lead a bad actor to misdirect City resources during an emergency event or lead to the discovery of important law enforcement information.   The City must safeguard access to such sensitive information and allow for protected communications amongst our Emergency Manager and affected departments, and those needs outweigh the public’s right to access the shared mailbox e-mail addresses in the bulk form as you have requested. Notwithstanding the above, if you have a specific request for a specific record, or a specific set of records, the City would be happy to review its e-mail accounts, including the City’s shared mailbox e-mail accounts, for any specific records requested, and provide you and records relevant to your request that are not otherwise confidential by law.  If you have any additional requests, please provide your amended request(s) at your convenience. James B. “Jim” Lewis Deputy City Attorney City of Las Vegas (702) 229-6629