Today’s discussion could not be timelier. COVID has brought an increase in ransomware attacks on schools. Here, experts sit down and describe the kinds of attacks schools are encountering and offer practical remedies.

It is front-page news that COVID has impacted learners from kindergarten to high school (K-12). Assessments are being challenged, teachers are quitting, and students are frustrated. If that were not enough, we have seen that this shocking transition has left school systems open for attack.

From a strategic perspective, it makes sense. It has been drilled into adults not to click on a strange-looking email. However, COVID has forced all communications between teachers and parents to be via email. Harried and under pressure, it is not surprising that someone clicks on a phishing email.

Further, at least adults can check their credit scores and may get emails from a credit card or bank of suspicious activity. No true with a ten-year-old. An identity can be compromised online, and a malicious actor can run up thousands of dollars of purchases in a mere 30 days.

It has been reported that a school district in Iowa recently paid the ransom to get school data back.

The story must start at the school itself. Elvis Teah from the Baltimore Public School System states that the main problem is with phishing emails; he also reinforces the concept that you need an infrastructure to listen to traffic entering and exiting.

Small school districts all over the country have limited staff. When COVID hit, the limited staff had to spend most of the time making sure students and teachers had access to online resources. As a result, we have seen a spike in school attacks.

Doug Levin from K12 Security Information eXchange has a deep understanding of the situation. He thinks that smaller schools must take advantage of the information on cybersecurity available from CISA and organizations that provide K12-specific information.