Roads to Cyber Safety

The Education Cybersecurity Weekly is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about 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.

Campus external and internal cyber threats

Education Technology on July 7, 2018

Cyber attacks and data breaches at British universities have doubled in the past two years. Take into account yet another fact that the network architecture of most universities, according to Andy Butcher, has not changed in the last 20 years. Hackers track down vulnerabilities, identify weak security measures and links to other devices or businesses, and net-pricing data. This kind of threats is real-life and carried out externally, but educational institutions have to focus on internal threats as well.

The widespread ‘internal hacks’ such as highlighted in “Students Hacking Time” are becoming more frequent. Andy Butcher gives an example of a scenario when slow students take down some of the university’s internal servers and extend deadlines. Cybercriminals can also wage a denial-of-service attack that leaves a university’s servers interrupted and unavailable.

A reliable framework for data governance and cyber security along with crisis management and IT architecture must be properly established. It is necessary to take main steps such as encryption and implementing software updates that help ensure cybersecurity.

Georgia’s first center for cybersecurity education and research opens to the public

Dark Reading on July 11, 2018

Georgia Cyber Center is a new $100 million cybersecurity education and research operation housing a 330,000 square-foot cyber range and training facility. It is opened in a cooperation of the state of Georgia and Augusta University. Located at the university, the center is aimed at strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity through research, workforce development, and entrepreneurship.

The center provides certification programs and both undergraduate and graduate-level degree programs. Students from academia, private industry, government, and the military will to take classes taught by faculty from Augusta University, the US Army Cyber School, Cyber Protection Brigade, and NSA Georgia. In addition, all upper-division courses for the school’s computer science, information technology, and cyber programs will be taught at the new facility.

Overcoming common student data sharing solutions barriers

EdTech Focus on K-12 on July 11, 2018

The amount of data that is collected is growing, and a school administration should be aware of the obstacles to overcome while dealing with students’ data. Schools create their own systems risk making errors. Organizations like CoSN have file-sharing standards that administrators can use as a guide when discussing what they want from vendors.

Systems have numerous links to sensitive information. They are connected to devices across districts, and seamless data sharing can be “irresponsible and unethical” without the proper security. At the Katy Independent School District in Texas, administrators began incorporating BYOD policies, all of which were connected seamlessly into the district’s online learning platform. Adopting a standards-based application programming interface can be a good solution.

Protecting your district from ransomware

eSchool News on July 12, 2018

Hackers target schools with the help of ransomware attacks make headlines particularly as a threat to K-12, and they are not for big dollars but attempted identity theft, pedophiles, or trolling. Both Roseburg (OR ) Public Schools and Leominster (MA) Public Schools were two of the latest victims.

Learn mistakes, do backups, and know who you will call for help in case of an attack. The best way to avoid being an accidental victim is to realize that the security community is here to support those who do not have the budgets and departments to get help from anyone else.

This Cyber Security Weekly has shed light on what is happening in the cybersecurity of K-12 and Higher Education.