IT solutions for the education sector

Developing technology in the education sector is a blessing and a curse depending on who you ask. Technology has helped reach underserved areas of the country — allowing students to learn from remote locations by enhancing learning opportunities. However, it has also jeopardized the information and digital privacy of many individuals and families.

No matter the industry, every business, and organization is at risk of getting felled by a cyber threat. The second largest school system in the country, the Los Angeles Unified School system, was victim to a ransomware attack in September 2022. As the system served more than 600,000 students, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security stepped in to investigate.  

But how can you protect the information of your students and school board? Let’s explore what you need to protect, your options for security, and how to prepare for the future.

The state of education and technology today

The education sector has been slowly integrating with technology for a long time. The 2020 pandemic forced the industry to quickly adopt hybrid learning, remote learning, cloud service and online learning tools. However, video chat learning wasn’t the only change for the virtual classroom, and educators  needed to explore options that would teach student material while keeping them engaged and connected.

Educational technology (ed-tech) provides the education industry with new tools for expanding the learning experience to accommodate each student's learning style. The days of simply memorizing terms and stories are outdated and exclude students who struggle to learn in this manner. Teachers can now gamify their lessons and include interactive elements in the virtual classroom.

Additionally, the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) across other industries have significantly impacted people of all ages. In 2021, McKinsey surveyed how technology was used in the education sector.

They found eight types of technologies that when utilized were actually helpful to students and teachers:

• Virtual collaboration settings and knowledge sharing.
• Progress monitoring technology equipped with at-risk alerts.
• Connectivity and community-building tools to connect teachers, students and coursework.
• Augmented reality learning for interactive stimulus and hands-on learning.
• Polls, chat rooms for questions, commentary and breakout rooms for class discussions.
• Learning games and rewards badges for good work.
• Machine learning virtual teaching assistants can answer student questions.
• Customer AI course delivery is based on student progress and strengths.

The survey found the top reason (43%) why new learning tools were not used in higher educational institutions was because of a lack of awareness . However, students w ant to use more technology in the classroom. When it comes to classroom exercises and personalized coursework, student survey respondents said that ed-tech is a positive tool.

With all of this interest and a growing number of schools adopting technology, it’s crucial to invest in comprehensive IT solutions.

Does education need IT solutions?

The internet and using computers for class are as typical as notebooks and pencils. As we’ve seen from the McKinsey report, the benefits of using computers and ed-tech in schools greatly outweigh the costs. From collaboration to more integrated learning activities, ed-tech is almost necessary for a more inclusive learning environment.

However, it’s critical that IT solutions accompany these advancements as well.

The personal information shared on a computer — especially at school — could be a gold mine for scrupulous hackers mining unprotected data. Phishing emails and ransomware are common threats to many educational organizations because hackers gain access through trickery and deception.

In both cases, cyber attackers deceive students and staff members into clicking and downloading something and then infiltrate their database to steal information either for money (ransomware) or to sell the data elsewhere (Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS). These types of cyberattacks in schools are becoming increasingly common. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest school system, has recently been the target of a massive ransomware attack. In late September, a cyberattack shut down classrooms for two days in the South Redford school system in Michigan. Cybercriminals are not going away as technology advances both inside and outside the classroom. It is now more important than ever for schools to use IT solutions to protect their institutions, students, and staff members. A robust cybersecurity program is required by all educational institutions in order to combat cybercriminals. 

How to reduce threats in the education sector

The education sector will consistently be a primary target for hackers because of the extensive attack surface. The industry is a prime target for cybercriminals due to its size and potential for financial gain, data theft, and espionage. Anyone is at risk, from students to staff, teachers, and parents. Administrators and teachers should be able to focus on educating the next generation of leaders while leaving cybercriminals to the experts. With this in mind, we've devised three preventive measures to ensure the safety of academic settings.

1. Security Awareness Training

As technology advances, classrooms are being reinterpreted in many ways to adapt to the changing needs of today's digital learners. Students now use tablets and computers in and out of the classroom to supplement online learning options, replacing books, pencils, and paper. While the education sector is keeping up with the trend of switching to tablets and computers, they are also increasing their vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Allowing students and faculty to access homework from any location with an internet connection broadens the attack surface. Cybercriminals use this to their advantage, making the education industry, the industry with the most recorded malware attacks.

Many students and teachers are unaware of how to detect cyber threats due to a lack of training. According to a Morning Consult study, 59% of educators are unsure whether they have received security training or have not recently received any. Educators' lack of cybersecurity training can put students' personal information at risk, as three-quarters of teachers rely on online instruction. In fact, cybercrime targets children's personally identifiable information (PII) more frequently than adult PII because this data is less closely monitored. The breach of children's data may not be detected until they apply for jobs and obtain their driver's licenses. 

One way for educational institutions to protect their schools, teachers, and students is through Security Awareness Training. This training is designed for employees and administrators to equip them with the knowledge necessary to detect electronic break-in attempts. Through comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training, we will educate your employees on threats such as spam, phishing, malware, ransomware, social engineering, and more.  We can transform your staff into a "human firewall” for your institution. This training reduces the risk of employees making common errors that allow hackers access to valuable data and system programs.

Through this training, instructors will understand how an attack occurs, who is targeted, and the best cybersecurity practices to follow. Using these new tools, teachers will gain the ability to share their knowledge with students; they can create specific courses for student safety training and help aid students in applying their learning. Educators imparting their cybersecurity knowledge to students can help them realize that improper security practices can impact not only themselves, but also the entire institution. The ability to instill good security habits in students lies within teachers who are knowledgeable about cybersecurity.

2. Email protection

Since the pandemic, the attack surface of cybercriminals has expanded as technologies such as district laptops, open wireless access points, unprotected IP devices, and student management systems are often enabled with only basic security controls. According to a report from the consumer research site Comparitech, U.S. education institutions experienced "downtime alone" of more than $3.5 billion in 2021 due to cyberattacks. Numerous high-profile breaches have been linked to the infiltration of an organization's email system, and many educational institutions need to be made aware that their email environment needs to be adequately protected. According to a 2020 government report, the most significant contributors to accidental data breaches were caused by staff members via phishing attacks.

Among the most widespread social engineering attacks, phishing is the most common attack faced by educational institutions. Malicious emails are distributed as part of phishing attacks in order to trick potential victims into disclosing sensitive information or downloading malicious files. Due to the difficulty of blocking such emails, phishing attacks are a significant concern for educational institutions. Malicious actors use social engineering tactics to obtain sensitive personal and financial information from unsuspecting individuals. To the untrained eye, these emails often appear legitimate.

In order to protect your educational institution from cyber criminals, email protection is essential. Telesystem’s Advanced Email Protector solution guards against spam, email viruses/malware, and other types of email-based attacks that are often overlooked. At the same time, it provides encryption and filtering of outbound emails to prevent any sensitive internal information from being inadvertently sent by your employees, thereby preventing data leaks.

Often, teachers communicate with parents, school officials, and internal services, transmitting sensitive student information. With our advanced email protection program, it takes the burden of deciding which emails are subject to compliance regulations and reduces the risk of breaches due to human error. It allows teachers and students to focus on their education and not worry about a possible cyber threat affecting their class time.

3. Endpoint Protection
   The most severe gap in education's cybersecurity strategies today is in endpoint security. With the rise of online learning following the pandemic, the attack surface has expanded into the homes of students and teachers. Tablets and laptops, which can be taken anywhere, reduce schools' visibility to students and staff while also opening the door to more access points for cybercriminals. The majority of cyberattacks on these pieces of hardware are the result of poorly secured networks.

When an endpoint, whether a student's or a teacher's, isn't secure, it leaves itself open to various cyberattacks, such as ransomware or data leaks. The U.S. education system has been hit by ransomware attacks over the past few years, affecting some of its most prestigious regions. The Baltimore Public Schools, for example, spent $9.7 million recovering from a breach that had disrupted academic instruction for weeks because they had converted entirely to virtual learning. The attack required teachers and students to hand over their laptops for inspection, leading to widespread confusion in determining which devices were affected by the attack. Cyberattacks like these can make it incredibly hard for educational institutions to recover from in terms of cost and the damage it will cause to their reputation.

Let's face it: making up for lost time with students is difficult; they can't afford weeks of academic disruption due to cyber-attacks. All schools should take preventative measures to protect their institution, staff, and students, and Endpoint Antivirus Protection, will allow you to do just that.

Endpoint Antivirus protection is a comprehensive IT platform that effectively secures business users and their data while improving system efficiency and reliability. Our proactive whitelist security stack approves a list of email addresses, IP addresses, domain names, or applications while rejecting all others outside of that list, seamlessly protecting your organization from viruses/malware and ransomware threats that optimize your cyber infrastructure. Endpoint Antivirus protection allows you to take the necessary precautions to protect your school's instructors, staff, and students without interfering with the learning process. This is essential for every school to implement in order to ensure the safety of their institution.

Telesystem is your education data security solution

When it comes to your institution, we know it's more than a job for teachers and a place for children to go to every day. It's the place where students learn to expand their creativity; it's where they figure out who they want to be when they grow up. It's the place that will instill in them some of life's greatest lessons they'll never forget.

We have grown to appreciate the value of technology in our educational institutions, especially since the pandemic. We learned we can't predict what will happen tomorrow. At Telesystem, we understand the extent at which education today depends on technological innovations, to teach the next generation of leaders successfully, and we want to help you get them there. With our security awareness training, email protection, endpoint antivirus protection, and managed security services, we can ensure your institution, staff, and students will be safe from harm's way.

To learn more and to get started, request a quote today.