On this special episode (brought to you by ClassLink), Chris and Eric the Intern take a trip to Austin and spend the week at the CoSN conference! Because they interviewed so many and got such good content, we’ll be breaking this into two parts. You’ll hear from:

-Eric Nicklas, Program Manager, MOREnet

-Don Ringelestein, CTO, Maine Township High School District 207, CoSN Board

-Evangelina Mendoza, CTO, San Antonio Independent School District, CoSN Board

-Tim Clark & Monica Watts, 1EdTech

-Melody Lam, Learning Tools Developer, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools

-Dayna Aravich & Dan Stoneman, Gartner

-Shahryar Khazei, retired CIO of Los Angeles Unified, CoSN Board

-Tom Ryan, Co-Founder at K-12 Strategic Technology Advisory Group, former CIO of Albuquerque Public Schools, and member of the Council of Great City Schools

-Jan Mills, Senior Vice President of Sales, ClassLink

-Steve Langford, CIO, Beaverton School District, Retiring CoSN Chair

-Marlo Gaddis, CTO, Wake County Public School System

-Keith Krueger, CEO, CoSN

ClassLink - Cybersecurity Rubric for Schools

https://www.classlink.com/news/groundbreaking-new-cybersecurity-rubric-guides-schools-toward-improved-security-practices

ClassLink – DataGuard

https://www.classlink.com/news/classlink-announces-dataguard-and-advanced-iam-tools

In tonight's episode Josh, Mark, and Eric the Intern chat about CISA's new K12 Cyber Report and their 3 fundamental items that all districts should be tackling... *hint, hint* one is MFA. Josh talks about his 3 internet outages that took place in the last 10 days and how that is causing him to look at backup WAN connections. The guys also spend time talking about the 3 year anniversary of when schools first shut down for COVID. It's hard to believe that was 3 years ago this week!

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Hang out with us at K12TechPro.com (and join the Community).

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Chris is on leave again this week, so Mark and Josh do their best to proceed without him.  

Mark recaps the K12 SIX Conference that was held in Austin, Texas. Josh talks about trying to change a SSID over to WPA3 and it did not go well. They also talk about a new method students are using to attempt to crack WPA2 passphrases on Chromebooks using the chrome://net-export page.

The majority of this episode is an interview that Chris and Mark conducted with Mr. Doug Levin, founder of K12 SIX. Doug sat down with the guys to talk about what K12 SIX offers to districts and what the goal of the conference is.

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This is the second part of the interview with Soheil Katal, the CIO for LAUSD. In Episode 108 Interview Part One, we set the stage and talk through the first few days of the cyber incident that took place in September 2022. Go back and listen to Part One if you have not already.

In this episode Soheil talks about bringing in the FBI and how their goal was not necessarily the same goal that Soheil and his team had. We also crack a few jokes about the news stories that said LAUSD "picked up the phone and called the Whitehouse" asking for more assistance from the Federal Government, and yes, it pretty much happened that way.

We would like to thank Soheil for taking the time out of his schedule to grant us this interview. Like we said before, we are pretty certain this is the first and only one on one interview that Soheil has granted since the event took place, and we are VERY grateful that he was willing to talk to us.

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In part one of our exclusive 2-part interview on K12 Tech Talk, we sat down with Soheil Katal, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Los Angeles School District, to discuss the recent ransomware attack that rocked the district's systems and caused disruption for students and staff alike. Katal shared his firsthand account of the impact of the attack and the challenges of trying to restore the district's systems and data.

But that's not all. Katal is a seasoned technology leader, and he shared his invaluable perspective on the broader issue of cybersecurity and how organizations can better protect themselves from ransomware attacks.

In part two of this interview, which will publish next week, Katal provides deeper insights into the broader issue of cybersecurity, including practical steps that organizations can take to better protect themselves. He also discusses the importance of regular backups, employee training, and the need for a comprehensive security strategy.

If you're an educator, IT professional, or simply someone who wants to learn more about how to protect yourself from cyber threats, you won't want to miss this 2-part interview. Katal provides valuable lessons and takeaways that you can apply in your own life and work.

So stay tuned for part two of K12 Tech Talk's exclusive interview with Soheil Katal, the CIO of Los Angeles School District, as he shares his insights and experiences in the wake of the district's recent ransomware attack.

LISTEN HERE (and on all major podcast platforms).

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BIG NEWS! In this episode, we set up Episode 108, an interview with Soheil Katal, the CIO of Los Angeles Unified School District. We are pretty certain this is the first one on one interview he has given, and we got it! As you can tell, we're excited.

But first, in this episode, we mention a cheating scandal at a High School in Florida that involves... you guessed it... everyone's favorite AI bot, ChatGPT. We have a listener email about the blurred lines between door access control systems and security camera systems, and when is it an IT issue, a Maintenance issue, or a Safety issue.

Come back for Episode 108 (and it will probably be split into two episodes).

Hang out with us at K12TechPro.com

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Vizor - 20% Off

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Our influx of listener emails continues, and we field a question about esports, one about recovering from COVID challenges, and we say G'day to a listener from Australia. We also spend a good amount of time talking about rolling out MFA requirements and a few settings in Google Admin Console that might make that rollout easier. We also talk about some upcoming conferences that "we" will be attending including but not limited to K12Six, CoSN, and NHCTO.

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Vizor - 20% Off

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We had so many listener emails that we can't get to them all this week. We will save a few for next week, but keep 'em coming!

A few weeks ago, we talked about Sh1mmer, the new shim package that was released that allowed individuals to remove Chromebooks from Google Admin Console, etc. We received an email from the group who developed Sh1mmer and they wanted to clarify some items that we got wrong. In this episode, Chris tells the story of the email exchange with two people from the group, including us asking Jack Rhysider from Darknet Diaries for some tips, and then there's a plot twist at the end that surprised us.

We have a few listener emails; one about mandated reporter laws and what we got wrong (We are sensing a theme here) and one about internet access for the public and during sporting events in schools.  

We also interview Megan, a ClassLink user, about how ClassLink has changed her life for the better.

And, of course, we have the Forti-Question-of-the-Week... What are you doing for internet and phone redundancy?

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Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]

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Oh, and...

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Mark is absent (AKA suspended for his actions last week), so Eric fills in for him. We have two listener emails; one about Chromebook rotation and one about interactive boards/panels. We talk about ChatGPT's Terms of Service requirement of 18 years old for use. We talk about Google Meet and Zoom supporting each other's clients and interoperability. We also go down another "rabbit hole" about taking time to block VPNs and content filter avoidance websites. 

Mark should be off suspension and return next week.

Google Meet and Zoom article we talk about

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The guys are off the rails tonight. They have a listener email that asks some tough questions, they talk about the sh1mmer vulnerability affecting Chromebooks, and they talk about going down rabbit holes and spending time to address issues. Chris and Josh talk about an Extreme Networks boot camp they went to, and then the guys wrap it up with Fortinet's Security Segment Question of the Week... and that's when the wheels fall off. We aren't sure how the Fortinet marketing folks will respond to our great ideas for product names!

Visit our sponsors:

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Fortinet - Email [email protected]

SomethingCool.com - Cybersecurity Solutions

Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]

Provision Data Solutions

Oh, and...

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Tweet us @k12techtalkpod

Visit our LinkedIn page HERE

Hang out with us at K12TechPro.com

Buy our merch!!!