COMMENTARY. As technology continues to reshape every aspect of our lives, it is no surprise that even time-honored institutions like the Scholastic Aptitude Test are embracing the digital revolution.
In 2024, the College Board, the organization responsible for administering the SAT, is planning a significant shift by transitioning from its traditional paper-and-pencil format to an all-digital testing platform.
It's a major milestone, but it also carries unique risks and points of failure that local school districts can and should begin to address proactively - or chance disaster on test day.
BYOD: A Recipe for Network Outages and Performance Issues To make the digital SAT more accessible, the College Board now permits students to bring their own devices for use on test day.
Putting aside common technical challenges on test days, IT and networking teams must ensure the basic readiness of their school's infrastructure to support so many devices simultaneously.
The College Board estimates that each student will require at least 100 Kkps of bandwidth at both the start and end of the test.
Many schools already manage similar traffic levels throughout the school year, yet preparation remains essential.
This may require some effort, especially for older schools with more dated technology.
Last but not least, schools need to ensure that they are not opening up new cybersecurity holes during this process.
Cyberattacks Against Schools Remain High Post-Pandemic Since the onset of the pandemic, students have increasingly launched distributed denial of service attacks to take down their school websites and applications.
Students tend to prefer these types of attacks because of how cheap and easy they are to find on the Dark Web, with trials available for free and more powerful attacks offered for as little as $5. Motivations vary, but we know students often use DDoS attacks to delay tests or extend homework assignments during the school year.
Of course, the reality is that taking the SAT is one of the most stressful days of a student's life.
Parents expect their children to do well on the test.
A high score can make a difference in whether a student is admitted to their preferred school.
Many scholarships require students to submit their SAT scores for consideration.
This consists of deploying both on-premises and cloud-based systems, which allows school districts to detect and mitigate even the most complex DDoS attacks before they disrupt critical testing periods.
Preparation Is Key Ultimately, successful implementation of all-digital SAT testing relies on the readiness of students and educators.
Students must do their part to prepare for the test by studying and bringing their devices charged and ready to use.
School districts must begin planning for the technical and network challenges that the digital SAT will inevitably bring to testing sites nationwide.
Now is the period for school districts to ensure a smooth and successful transition to the all-digital SAT by taking proactive measures, including assessing and optimizing network performance, providing comprehensive technical support, and securing networks before disruption strikes.
This Cyber News was published on www.darkreading.com. Publication date: Thu, 07 Dec 2023 18:00:28 +0000