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Cyber Best Practices for Education Providers

Cyber security for education providers such as schools are of particular importance due to the sensitive nature of the data stored and the potential consequences of a cyber attack.

Why is cyber security important for education providers?

The main focus of cyber security within the education sector is to first and foremost protect the students. While students seeing upcoming quiz questions is a concern, it's not the primary reason that cyber security is so important.

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Students and cyber safety

Maintaining a cyber safe environment isn't just on teachers, it also requires participation from students as they may come across sensitive data relating to other students.
Provide learning opportunities that allow all students, regardless of their development level or background, to test and share their knowledge on what it means to be cyber safe. Develop and share examples of how social media can make a positive change in society. Avoid using scare tactics when delivering presentations to parents or carers.
Young students may be susceptible to different types of harm across a range of technologies and online platforms. It's important to teach students cyber safety practices such as logging out of a device after using it, outlining the risks of sharing nude photos, and explaining the impact that "echo chambers" can have on the way we perceive things.
Develop and implement digital learning materials that meet the needs of all students, including those with a disability. Recognize the developmental needs of students before creating cyber safety educational programs. Finally, use a diverse range of learning activities to engage students.

To maintain a cyber safe environment for students in schools, we should:

To maintain a cyber safe environment we need to create digital learning material, provide learning opportunities and help students understand the risks and potential harms of misusing digital technologies.

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Cyber security for teachers, students and faculty

Schools have become a prime target for cyber criminals, and when we're operating in a digital learning environment, we need to ensure teachers, students, and faculty are taking a consistent approach to cyber security.
To ensure our accounts are protected against unauthorized access, we need to use strong, unique passwords for all our accounts and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible. Using strong authentication significantly reduces the likelihood of successful cyber attacks, even when our password is compromised!
Avoid sharing personal information, such as names, addresses, or phone numbers, on social media or other online platforms. This information can be used by cyber criminals to gain access to accounts or steal identities. Restricting personal information reduces the likelihood that we end up on the radar of a cyber criminal.
Be cautious when opening emails or clicking on links, as these can contain malware or lead to malicious websites. Only download files from trusted sources, and be mindful of emails as they may originate from a cyber criminal! If you suspect something is off, don't hesitate to contact the IT or Security team for assistance.

Is the following statement True or False:
We should avoid sharing personal information such as addresses and phone numbers on social media.

Avoid sharing personal information, such as names, addresses, or phone numbers, on social media or other online platforms. This information can be used by cyber criminals to gain access to accounts or steal identities. Restricting personal information reduces the likelihood that we end up on the radar of a cyber criminal.

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Safeguarding student data

As education providers, we need to provide the tools, techniques, and processes that create a secure learning environment for students and teachers alike.
Only grant authorized parents or carers access to student data and ensure all accounts are secured with strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible. When sharing information with other teachers and personnel, only provide it to those with a need-to-know.
Where possible, use encrypted communication methods when sharing student data with colleagues, external parties, or students themselves. Use school-approved collaboration tools that have built-in encryption, and if these aren't feasible, then manually encrypt your messages to protect them from being intercepted.
Regularly back up student data in a separate location from the original to protect against data loss, corruption or even destructive attacks such as ransomware. Don't forget to have a plan in place for recovering data in a timely manner in the event of a cyber attack or natural disaster.

Is the following statement True or False:
It's ok to send sensitive student data using unencrypted digital communication if it's urgent.

You should always take care to ensure student information is encrypted using work-approved collaboration tools when this information is being digitally transferred, If there's no means of securely transferring digital files, other methods such as physical transfer should be used.

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To protect against ransomware attacks, we should:

We should regularly back up student data in a separate location from the original to protect against data loss, corruption, or even destructive attacks such as ransomware. Don't forget to have a plan in place for recovering data in a timely manner in the event of a cyber attack or natural disaster.

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Wrapping up

By implementing cyber security best practices, we can enable students and teachers to feel safe when learning in a digital environment.