Our commitment to our partners for excellent (p)erformance and (a)ccountability in cybersecurity education includes:
- Build and implement a culture of cybersecurity awareness
- Develop a multi-tiered cybersecurity education training program for all partners
- Plan, train, and implement best practices for staying safe during a cyberattack
- Lower the organization’s risk of cyber security attacks through awareness training.
Vartek’s alignment with CoSN’s cybersecurity recommendations to “minimize the staff’s ability to be compromised” through regular (monthly) training, awareness, and practice the purchase of a cybersecurity education training program is highly recommended. Two programs are currently in use at Vartek’s partner schools: TechGuard and KnowBe4.
In a previous podcast episode, TechGuard and Cybersecurity professional, Kate Swantko, discussed with us how educated teachers can protect their students by avoiding security breaches at home and at school. Oftentimes, we are unaware of the “cross-contamination” moving our device from a home network, to a public network, and then to a school network. Just like moving about locations physically can put us at risk for catching a virus, the same is true for our technology devices.
According to CoSN, “Over 90%* Cyberattacks start with phishing, the practice of sending legitimate-seeming emails that will entice users to reveal personal information or click on links that install malicious software. Phishing emails are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect.” Training users to detect and report questionable emails can decrease risk significantly. A reporting procedure should be created to report suspicious emails and also report when a staff member mistakenly clicks on a harmful link.
| People are not the weakest link – they are the primary attack vector. We can reduce this human risk by changing human behavior. One effective way to change behavior is to leverage an awareness and training program. – CoSN |
Kate shared 3 tips for easy protection of cyber attacks.
- Be incredibly suspicious of any email you get – resist temptation to click the link!
- Be careful of devices that are connected at home. Sharing networks can spread a virus to all devices on a shared network.
- Avoid connecting to unsecured networks/public WiFi, with all devices but especially work devices.
Cybersecurity education is divided in two parts – mock phishing to create a baseline for a school followed up by education and training. Once a baseline is established the goal is to see a steady decrease in failures until the ideal rate is achieved and then maintained. Phishing tests are recommended regularly to achieve desired results.
In the meantime, end user education is an important action to ensure our people are not the weakest link. Programs like TechGuard and KnowBe4 provide a multitude of pre-created training videos, lessons, and resources to be customized or used out-of-the-box by schools, school leaders, and technology departments.
Learn more about these programs in our podcast episodes or by reaching out to info@vartek.com.