Cybercriminals are becoming relentless in their efforts to gain access to critical school networks that hold confidential student and staff data. According to the K12 Security Information eXchange, over the past six years, there have been 1,619 cyber incidents in K–12 schools in the U.S. That’s more than one cybersecurity event every school day.
How can we reduce these attacks? A recent report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, “Protecting Our Future: Partnering to Safeguard K-12 Organizations From Cybersecurity Threats,” points to multifactor authentication as an essential tool in the fight to protect school networks. MFA works by prompting users to validate one or more additional factors beyond a password to prove their identity when signing into an account.
As the cybersecurity and systems administrator for Arbor Park School District 145, a small district outside of Chicago, I’ve personally seen how effective this authentication method can be in reducing unauthorized user account access. While MFA has become integral to larger organizations, schools might still be confronted with incorrect information about it. Read on to separate the myths from the facts.
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