City Of Virginia Beach Internship Reflection Paper 1
Shaquile Garces-Phillips
Old Dominion University
CYSE 368 Cyber Security Internship
September 15, 2025

Please enter your password. You have already entered this password before. This password is too short. This password is too weak. Please remember to change your password every 90 days. Every day, people see, read, and hear these exact phrases. In which people often experience password fatigue, as they must manage numerous credentials across different systems.  With that being said, all though I have been doing multiple different tasks for the last couple of weeks for my internship with the City of Virginia Beach Human Health Service IT department, I would like to focus on mainly resetting passwords,  from IT tickets that have been submitted into service now that I have either assigned to myself or had assigned to me. I have been actively involved in performing password resets for users accessing Cerner Millennium and DOMA. Cerner Millennium, now part of Oracle Health, is a comprehensive Electronic Health Record (EHR) system used by many healthcare organizations. It integrates clinical, financial, and operational data into a single platform, providing providers with real time access to patient information to support informed decision-making and effective care coordination.

Password resets for these systems are not automated. A help desk ticket must first be submitted and assigned to our team before we can take action. For Cerner, once a password reset is completed, we notify the user by email and provide a temporary password along with a secure link so they can create a new one.

The process for DOMA is similar but has one key difference. After receiving and accepting the ticket, we log into the DOMA system with our administrator credentials, unlock the user’s account, and send them a temporary password directly through the system. Unlike Cerner, DOMA automatically handles the email notification, so our role is primarily to unlock the account and initiate the reset. 

From firsthand experience, I can see why people are constantly putting in tickets for password resets. This is because the requirements for these passwords are stringent, and you are not allowed to use the same password for different application that users must log into at all. For instance, I have four different passwords for each different application that I must log into at my internship, all of which are very long and very complicated. In addition, the application only allows you to try your password 3 times before locking you out. If you have not logged into one of the applications in a certain amount of time, your account will then be deactivated, and you will have to submit a ticket to reactivate your account and have your password reset.  By consistently performing password resets, I can confidently say that I have gotten the hang of the process. When I first started, it took me around 10 minutes to reset a user’s password. Now, after doing it regularly, I can complete the entire process in less than 3 minutes depending on how long it takes me to log into the application. Although this might seem like a small improvement, it motivates me to keep learning and strive to become proficient in everything I am taught.

This internship has been an incredibly motivating and rewarding experience. It has given me firsthand insight into how IT and cybersecurity operate in a real world environment and allowed me to apply the knowledge I have gained in the classroom in meaningful ways. Each day brings new opportunities to learn, expand my understanding, and improve my ability to retain and apply new information.  One of my proudest achievements is securing this internship with the City of Virginia Beach. It was my top choice from the very beginning. My advice to future interns is to maintain an open mind, stay committed to learning, and be willing to step outside of your comfort zone. Often, the most valuable experiences are found beyond what feels familiar, and those experiences are what prepare you for future success.

Looking ahead, completing this internship and finishing my degree will lead to a full-time cybersecurity role with the City of Virginia Beach. This opportunity has reinforced my passion for cybersecurity and deepened my understanding of its critical role in supporting local government operations. Overall, this internship has been both eye-opening and inspiring.