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ISTELive 24: Cybersecurity Is Like an Onion
People are the weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity. A good defense-in-depth strategy for K–12 cybersecurity includes training staff and students on good cyber hygiene.
Brad Stewart, former CTO of Lufkin (Texas) Independent School District, recalls that his district suffered a cyberattack because of unencrypted, sensitive files on an employee’s desktop. Passwords and account information in these files allowed threat actors to enter his school’s network via the video servers, move east-west, and export hundreds of thousands of valuable files. It took Lufkin ISD more than two months to fully recover from the attack.
LEARN MORE: New research investigates cybersecurity threats and challenges.
Encouraging users to remain vigilant about cyber safety is just one part of “the Shrek approach” to cybersecurity, a term coined by Duncanville (Texas) Independent School District CTO Brian Brown. The first Shrek movie, he explains, states that ogres are like onions because they both have layers. In the same way, strong cybersecurity should also have layers.
Other districts are adopting this mindset as well, implementing training and technologies to keep valuable school data safe.
Participants
Brian Brown, CTO, Duncanville (Texas) Independent School District
Kris Thurston, Director of Technology, John Paul II High School, Plano, Texas
Brad Stewart, Former CTO, Lufkin (Texas) Independent School District
Video Highlights
- School technology leaders are taking “the Shrek approach” to cybersecurity and ensuring that they have layered systems of defense.
- Educating end users such as staff and students can protect school networks from cyberattacks.
- It’s worth investing in the technology to protect student data to avoid pricey ransomware demands.
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