User Awareness Training Gives K–12 Districts Bang for Their Buck in Cybersecurity

People Are the Front Line — and the Most Common Point of Failure

Teachers and administrative staff at school districts are often targeted by cybercriminals because hackers perceive them to be vulnerable targets. 

Especially in smaller school districts, it’s not unusual for just a few people to be tasked with receiving and processing most, if not all, invoices. If that person is targeted with a convincing fake invoice or a spoofed email from a “vendor,” the odds of an error are high, especially if there’s no policy requiring a second verification step.

This is why awareness training is so critical. It helps even the busiest people slow down, ask questions and verify. The most effective training programs are lightweight, recurring and tailored to staff. Rather than requiring a long information session once a year, provide 10-minute modules every month or quarter.

Cyberthreat simulations can also add value. For instance, tools from Trend Micro and Proofpoint offer phishing simulation campaigns where school districts can test their staff with real-world scenarios (such as department-specific phishing) and adjust based on the results. With artificial intelligence (AI)-generated examples and platforms that support customization, these training opportunities become more relevant and effective.

RELATED: K–12 districts are training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Policy and Process Matter Just as Much as Training

Cybersecurity awareness training doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It only works when paired with clear, enforced policies. In many ways, policies are the answer to the question, “What are we training them to do?” 

A great example of a policy at work would be treating email-based processes the way we treat account logins: with two-factor verification. In the same way that multifactor authentication (MFA) protects your login, your workflow should have a second layer of verification. For instance, invoices over a certain amount should trigger a policy-mandated phone call or in-person confirmation.

It’s so easy to forget to document workflows, and even easier to fail to implement controls that govern them in accordance with a clear policy. When a request looks plausible enough, staff may default to trust rather than protocol, and that’s when things can go wrong. This is the opposite of zero trust, a model in which no user or device is ever trusted by default.

Everyone from the finance department to marketing should know the red flags to watch out for and what steps to take if something feels off. Combine that with regular training, and you create not just cybersecurity awareness but true cyber resilience.

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Tools That Make a Difference Without Breaking the Bank

K–12 districts have several affordable tools to support and enforce safer user behaviors, including:

• Privileged access management. When attackers get in, the damage depends on what accounts they can access. Shared administrator logins and reused passwords are common for small teams, making lateral movement easy for attackers. Tools such as Fortinet offer low-cost PAM options to help prevent this.
• Anti-phishing tools. Email gateways such as those from Check Point, Abnormal AI, Trend Micro and Mimecast offer much better protection than native operating system defenses. Blocking malicious email before it even hits the inbox is the best-case scenario.

It’s also worth noting that many cyber insurance policies require businesses to implement security controls such as PAM and MFA. Meeting those standards can sometimes lower premiums and, more important, prevent a situation where a claim is denied because a requirement has not been met.

Cybersecurity doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive to be effective, but it does need to be intentional. Training people, creating good policies and investing in a few critical safeguards can go a long way toward protecting school districts from today’s increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats.