“Each school district has its unique environment, requirements and challenges,” he says. “It becomes crucial for schools to collaborate with industry partners to assess their specific needs and develop tailored security strategies that directly address their unique makeup and priorities.”
Fighting Back with an Essential Toolkit and All-in-One Platform
As threats constantly evolve, the traditional cybersecurity approach in K–12 districts is no longer enough. Fadhil advises schools to consider several key factors that can help safeguard schools from cyberthreats.
Next-Generation Firewalls
Next-generation firewalls should be complemented by advanced DNS and URL protection. These capabilities offer essential defense against malicious actors, including phishing attacks, harmful content and scam websites.
Secure Access Service Edge
Students and educators, no matter where they are, need simple, effective and secure
connections to apps, data and their school communities. A cloud-delivered security strategy, Secure Access Service Edge enables schools to extend protection measures to any location without redirecting all traffic back to the data center, ensuring comprehensive security while preserving the integrity of sensitive data.
Incident Response Planning
Addressing the human element is equally vital in the quest for robust cybersecurity. Incident response services must be included in overall cybersecurity planning. This ensures that every stakeholder will be ready in the event of an incident.
Automation
Palo Alto Networks offers a platform that automates daily cybersecurity tasks, using artificial intelligence and machine learning to proactively eliminate threats before they become breaches and helping schools streamline their cybersecurity operations to enhance overall protection. At this point, automation to operate at machine scale is a must for schools to effectively combat cyberthreats. This is also key to addressing workforce and resource challenges.
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