“The same risks that apply to any organization apply to a school system as well,” says John Clark, Director of Safety and Security for Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). “The difference is we’re dealing with kids. So, we must make our training age appropriate. We have to understand the audience at all times, but we still want the same outcome at the end of the day, which is a safe and secure environment.”
The Security 500 tracks 17 vertical markets and collects unique data where appropriate (such as number of unique facilities in healthcare) and applies this data to key metrics.
A grant of more than $800,000 from the state of Michigan will go toward Proactive Response Training for school bus drivers and transportation directors throughout the entire state.
Cybercriminals are taking notice of the seemingly endless vulnerabilities schools face. Take the explosive ransomware attack on the University of Utah from earlier this summer, or the malware attack on the Rialto school district in California, for example. Even with a rapidly increasing attack surface, schools aren’t exactly able to drain their already-limited funding on transforming their IT infrastructure in the midst of a global pandemic. However, it is possible for schools to reduce risk by understanding where they are most vulnerable, taking the time to educate teachers, parents and students, and adopting certain tools and strategies to prevent targeted attacks on remote learning networks.
The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) has released the fifth edition of its Safety and Security Guidelines for K-12 Schools, which offers the most comprehensive information available on nationwide best practices specifically for securing school facilities, from subject matter experts across the education, public safety and industry sectors.
Companies need to tangibly improve employee well-being, particularly when it comes to their security professionals. Here are three measures security leaders can incorporate into their organization now, before employees hit a breaking point.
State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman announced at River Springs Elementary School that the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) will purchase and distribute over $33 million worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies to all eighty one public school districts to support efforts to maintain and return to face to face instruction.
Cadillac, Michigan Area Public Schools (CAPS) close to a half a million dollars to enhance training and physical security measures for school safety and security.
Previously, school districts dealt with securing their systems at both the district and school level. But now, teaching, learning and working are all happening at home simultaneously. It’s messy, far more complicated, and gives our cyber and IT teams significantly less control over networks and security than there was when traditional in-school learning was the norm. It’s especially crucial we keep our security measures tight, even if it feels like an uphill battle.
The 2020 Cybersecurity Perception Study finds most people still don’t view cybersecurity as a career field for themselves, even as nearly one-third (29%) of respondents say they are considering a career change.
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