In a survey of school communication and technology professionals, more than half reported several social media platforms have no dedicated account verification and reporting processes for accounts owned by federally recognized preK–12 or K–12 schools. This lack has burdened the schools with having to challenge fake-official and mock accounts and get their own legitimate accounts verified, wasting time and resources, and sometimes failing to prevail.
- By Kate Lucariello
- 10/11/22
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into a law a new requirement for K–12 schools in that state to report any cyberattack impacting more than 500 pupils or personnel, becoming the first in the nation to require disclosure even if a data breach has not occurred.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 10/06/22
As schools respond to the far-reaching mental health crisis in our schools, close collaboration between students, families, schools, community organizations, and support services can be a game-changer, and technology can play a role in making the collaboration easier and automatic. An expert in digital case management systems shares three ways schools can enhance their collaboration practices to better address students' needs.
- By Gary Pettengell
- 10/04/22
Rave Mobile Safety, which provides safety communication solutions to education and industry, announced it has partnered with all Oklahoma public and charter schools to provide its AppArmor anonymous tip program made possible by a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The Oklahoma School Safety Institute and Oklahoma School Division made the decision to use the program for the remainder of the grant period until the end of 2023.
- By Kate Lucariello
- 09/29/22
Vector Solutions, a company that provides education and industry training courses, announced it has added eight new courses to its stable of education courses for K–12 schools. The courses address key areas of cybersecurity awareness for education leaders and employees and include topics such as creating a cybersecurity culture, preventing social engineering attacks, laws and compliance, best practices, and more. Information about the courses will be available starting Oct. 1, 2022.
- By Kate Lucariello
- 09/29/22
As ransomware attacks targeting the education sector grab more headlines every week, a new ruling from a federal appeals court has further lowered the bar for people whose data is breached and leaked on the dark web to sue the organizations where the data was compromised, and educational institutions, public schools, and ed tech providers should take heed, an expert warns.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/27/22
Cyber Security Works, an IT risk management company and partner agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, recently conducted an assessment of an entire state’s public education system, analyzing the security posture across 180 school districts and charter schools, and it found 2,221 potential IT security problems, including scores of vulnerabilities known to have been weaponized by cyber criminals.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/22/22
An updated list of all K–12 schools in the U.S. known to have been impacted by the breach of student data resulting from a cyberattack on Illuminate Education's systems in January 2022.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/19/22
A longtime technology professional specializing in data protection and disaster recovery shares four types of tools every K-12 school district should be using to bolster their data protection systems and boost their cybersecurity resilience.
New details about the Labor Day weekend ransomware attack on Los Angeles Unified School District have trickled out over the past week, indicating that district officials may be negotiating with the threat actors to preserve district data stolen during the incident — and that they are definitely diving into major IT and cybersecurity upgrades.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/14/22