Key points:
- There are simple and proven tactics to help schools avoid common cyberattacks
- Remaining vigilant and knowledgeable helps educators form safe habits to dodge cybercriminals
- See related article: Defending against the most common cyberattacks
It’s not a topic we’re unfamiliar with: Criminal hackers are increasing their activity and they’re targeting K–12 schools, threatening districts with damaging financial and learning-downtime costs. The K12 Security Information Exchange (K12 SIX) tracks publicly disclosed school cyber incidents and reports an average rate of more than one K–12 cyber incident per school day across U.S. public schools.
With increased cyberattacks, the idea of a potential threat to a school or district feels daunting to ward against, but, more often than not, these simple tactics outlined below can support educators thwart some of the most common attacks.
Know the formats
Before we can discuss tactics to avoid the traps of cyber-criminals, we first must address the forms these attacks can take. Primary types of incidents range from student-data breaches, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, business email compromise scams, and online class and school meeting invasions. Fortunately, two of the most common attacks reported—phishing and ransomware incidents—can in many cases be easily prevented by attentive users.
In phishing attacks, the hacker tries to trick you into clicking on a link or attachment in an email or text that appears legitimate but is actually malicious. The goal is to extract or deceive you into disclosing private information. Ransomware, on the other hand, is a form of malware that infects your system, locks access to your data or computer, and demands that you pay a ransom to unlock it. While the costs of these incidents can be devastating, being aware of the shape they can take will support you whenever you’re working online.
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