Education Cybersecurity Upgrade
Education Cybersecurity Weekly is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about the Education industry. It provides brief summaries and links to articles and news across a spectrum of cybersecurity and technology topics that are specific to the industry.
Almost every media has covered the issue of “cybersecurity workforce gap”. Indeed, this topic is relatively close to the development and deployment of the cybersecurity education.A picky approach or severe reality? Most of the states got “F” in a recent report on student data privacy
EdScoop on February 4, 2019
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and the Network for Public Education decided to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Organizations published the report, ranking states on how well they protect student privacy. Spoiler alert! None of the states received “A” and according to the report’s author that is because “no state sufficiently protects student privacy in our estimation to the degree necessary.”
Each state got a GPA, presenting the assessments of each law based on the seven specific categories. While the highest grade (“B”) went to Colorado, some experts do not agree that the states with “F” grades actually deserve them. For instance, the study ignored South Carolina’s law in its analysis, although student privacy regulations are included in the House Bill 3893, passed in 2014.
Nevertheless, the main aim of the report was gained – the concern over the students’ privacy significantly escalated.
Education cybersecurity upgrade is impossible without cybersecurity education
EdTech Magazine on January 31, 2019
Almost every media has covered the issue of “cybersecurity workforce gap”. Indeed, this topic is relatively close to the development and deployment of cybersecurity education. Not so long ago entrepreneurs were focused on hiring from four-year institutions but nowadays the cybersecurity skills shortage dictates other rules of the game. Therefore, how can universities help students embrace cybersecurity paths?
Heather Ricciuto, academic outreach leader for IBM Security, outlined an interesting idea – people, thinking they cannot enter the cybersecurity industry because “they are not technical”, should remember the fact that not everybody in cybersecurity is a hacker or coder.
What is important, humanities students also need to understand the basis of cybersecurity and be able to apply this knowledge in case of a cyberattack. The career opportunities in cybersecurity are much wider than it seems to be.
Keep calm and update OS
Education Technology on January 31, 2019
Have you heard that after January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer support the Windows 7 operating system? For IT departments of the educational organizations that have not moved to Windows 10, it means one more point in the threats list as security patches for software vulnerabilities will not be available for outdated systems.
While many Higher Ed institutions use PeopleSoft systems for various departments, including applications like PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Financials and etc., we also would remind you that in January, Oracle released Critical Patch Update (CPU) and delivered 20 fixes for PeopleSoft.
In fact, timely updates of the operating system and software are essential to minimize potential cyber threats for the whole organization. Thus, universities need to care.
“Facial recognition is not a panacea. It is just a tool”
EdSurge on January 31, 2019
According to the recent research, the education sector spent $2.7 billion on security equipment and services. St. Therese Catholic Academy, a small pre-K-8 school, situated within a Catholic church, is no exception.
It is hard to disagree with Matt DeBoer, the principal, who claimed that the school “went from nothing to state-of-the-art”. A small camera at the entrance, showing the office staff incoming people on the tiny screen, was replaced by the high-resolution cameras, equipped with facial recognition software.
Although now the school staff experiences a crucial sense of relief and safety, the experts warn that if used without regular updates and supporting measures this biometric technology provides a false sense of security.
Sara Collins, policy counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), says facial recognition databases require a lot of maintenance to stay accurate and while for St. Therese Academy maintaining a current database may not be a problem, bigger institutions can face bigger challenges.