In Schools, What is There to Fear?

The 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.

Biggest EdTech student privacy concerns

The Tech Edvocate on August 20, 2018

Taking care of data privacy is a must for schools and districts. These are some big data privacy concerns:

• Edtech investors are more interested in other benefits of the education technology than in the protection of student data.
• Set of parameters defining student privacy are not always consistent.
• Selling an edtech company may or may not mean selling the student data.
• Schools’ data collection attracts hackers.
• Some schools and districts refuse to give up apps and social media platforms proven to release student data to third-parties.

Ed app that is more popular than Gmail, Facebook, and Instagram

EdSurge on August 17, 2018

Remind, a school communications platform, has become the first on the chart of free iOS apps. However, it is a rare feat for an educational tool to be listed among the best social and entertainment applications. Remind allegedly provides a safe way to send homework (text and voice messages, attachments, and links to digital educational resources) or study reminders on mobile devices without using personal phone numbers. It has 27 million monthly active users.

Remind sells an enterprise version of its platform to schools and districts. There are additional features as well such as a student rostering functionality, which makes it easier for IT administrators to create and manage user accounts, and data visualization tools that allow school leaders to track, monitor, and analyze how frequently parents, students, and teachers communicate.

Ways to prepare school districts for ransomware recovery

EdTech Focus on K-12 on August 20, 2018

Ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly common in schools due to the value of the data stored in their systems. According to the K–12 Cybersecurity Resource Center, 335 cybersecurity incidents happened in 2016, and 60% of victims paid the ransom to return their data. Staff members should take this into account, plan and test recovery strategies.

Some of the recommended practices are to back up files on a regular basis, rapidly rebuild endpoints, and ensure they are properly secured. Then, in case of ransomware, there will be no need to pay for recovery.