As Ransomware Attacks Rise, How Should K-12 Schools Evaluate Network Security?

Hi, I'm Chris Caruso, M6 Global's COO and CTO. So So today's topic is, you know, how important is network security for schools, based upon the increase in ransomware attacks and k three twelve institutions throughout the nation. It's incredibly important. It's definitely an upward trend where schools are being targeted. And, you know, some of the basics, you know, in regards to securing the network are really important. They're not very expensive. You know, the the first I could think of is, you know, from the outer most perimeter is authentication, right, ensuring that folks that are on the network are supposed to be on the network. They're authorized to be on the network. So, you know, from from the outer room, I'm looking at something like I you know, enabling multi factor authentication. It's a radius button in, Google or, Windows o three sixty five systems, that, you know, folks just have to provide a secondary update, right, other than a password, you know, something you are, whether it's a biometric, facial recognition to just ensure that the person that that's, you know, on the network is is authorized to be there. You know, the second thing I think about are just update your patching. Right? Make sure your softwares patch appropriately and, You know, all the devices that are operating on the network are, up to date in terms of their their firmware and software, right, that they're not vulnerable our vulnerabilities that exist that can, you know, lead to the big exploit. And, you know, the next part, I would say, you know, is just, implement, implement an incident response plan, an IRFP. I can't tell you, to how many incident responses I've been to post where folks just, either didn't have an IRP or, they had one that hadn't been tested, and it didn't get implemented properly, and time was lost, right, valuable time. It's difficult enough to figure out if someone, I'm an authorized user is zoning your system or network. It's really crucial once you detect that unauthorized access. To lock it down, right, figure out where these folks gate entry, ensure that they're off the network. If they've encrypted any data or, you know, trying to extort the school for ransing wear, then you have, fresh backups. Right? And in backups, relate to business continuity disaster recovery. Is it is it twelve hours? Is it eight hours? Is it instantaneous? You know, these are just some general questions. I think that network administrators and and IT professionals need to ask themselves, not only themselves, but the people that are running the school, right, the the, You know, the folks that are using the system regularly, that be the students, the staff administrators, what do you need to to fully get back in the game and get back to the job of educating the children. Right? Your I refer to those as your your critical areas. Right? What are your your crown jewels further referred to as well, that you need to avoid a, a critical, interruption services. Take care. Thanks.