More than 647, 000 US students were impacted by hacks or attacks on their schools in 2021 alone, according to GAO.gov.
Attacks against schools are increasing by 30% quarter-to-quarter.
School districts may not seem like lucrative targets, especially struggling K-12 schools.
Data: Schools are a treasure trove of information, including student data, administrative records, and the credit card and social security numbers of parents.
Success rates: Nearly half of all schools that were subjected to ransomware attacks paid the ransom in order to get their data back.
Often, when schools refuse to pay the ransom, hackers will reach out to parents of students directly and offer to withhold their data from being sold or made public in exchange for payment.
Lack of defenses: Schools spend less than 10% of their IT budget on cybersecurity, which makes them easy targets.
Because a large volume of attacks on schools start with email-based attacks like phishing, endpoint protection is key.
Endpoint protection solutions can also include other tools that make schools safer for students, such as web filtering that prevents students from visiting malicious or inappropriate websites.
The right cybersecurity solution employs automated scanning techniques to analyze files and emails within a school's network.
School systems should prioritize conducting routine security audits across all individual schools within their districts.
Schools should prioritize regular backups of their data to mitigate the impact of potential cyber-attacks.
By staying current with patches, schools minimize the risk of exploitation by malicious actors seeking to compromise sensitive data or disrupt operations.
It's ironic that schools often skip this important step: training, cybersecurity education, and student engagement are often your best defense.
Setting a technology budget helps schools select projects, make good use of resources, and keep an eye on costs.
Long-term solutions allow schools to save money and keep up with technology changes without having to make upgrades all the time.
Schools need to spend money on IT solutions that are scalable so that they can change with the times and meet more demand without increasing costs.
Schools are constrained when it comes to resources and budgeting for technology investments, which is why Coro is the perfect solution, stepping up to safeguard students and schools with a single, holistic, and affordable solution.
Designed for schools and small-to-medium-sized businesses with a limited IT budget allocation and few IT professionals on staff, Coro goes the extra mile to offer world-class protection at an affordable rate.
With Coro's intuitive platform, installation takes just moments, making it easy for schools to deploy and start securing their systems rapidly without the need for additional staff or complex configurations.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:13:06 +0000