Security

Partnerships are a Surefire Way to Help Schools Bounce Back from Cybercrime

When emergencies arise, K–12 technology leaders must know who to call and why.

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As Editor in Chief, Ryan works on developing editorial strategy and is always on the lookout for new writing talent and sharing great stories with the IT world. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, biking and obsessively following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

As more K–12 schools get caught in the crosshairs of cybercriminals determined to steal the mountains of valuable data that schools must protect, cyber resilience is more important than ever. Once a bad actor successfully breaches a school’s network, it can be stressful and frustrating to get back on track. However, it’s not all bad news. It is during these trying times that most K–12 IT teams get the very clear message that they are not alone.

Because the impact can be so widespread, successfully recovering from a cyber breach cannot and should not be a one-man or one-department operation. In “Why Schools Need an Incident Response Recovery Plan Today,” school leaders note that an effective incident response plan must involve key stakeholders from across the district and include a list of people to reach out to for help.

Click the banner to learn what it takes to build a cyber resilient K–12 environment.

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Cyber Breaches Can Have Unintended Benefits for Schools

Providing schools with backup to recover from cyber incidents is crucial. That’s why North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order a few years ago to create a joint cybersecurity task force. “They will be on the ground and be in the school to investigate until we have resolved the situation,” explains Vanessa Wrenn, CIO for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (see “Q&A: North Carolina’s Technology Leader for Schools Works to Level the Playing Field”).

Schools that don’t have the backing of a whole state will need to turn to their vendor partners, who can help with forensics or provide appropriate technical tools to help schools quickly bounce back, build resilience and minimize their chances of being hit again.

Atlanta Public Schools turned to partners after cybercriminals stole employee credentials in a 2017 phishing attack. The school’s IT team hired a cybersecurity firm, purchased cyber insurance and installed additional cybersecurity software (see “How to Fortify Your School Networks After a Cyberattack”).

Olufemi Aina, the district’s interim CIO, says that an unintended benefit was that “the attack allowed us to get in front of senior leadership, build support across the organization and access emergency funding we didn’t have before.”

This approach recalls the adage “it takes a village,” which holds special significance in the case of increasing cyber resilience efforts in K–12 schools. Effective cybersecurity requires preparedness as well as the right internal and external partners working together to protect our students.

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