Bill Spakowski, Director of New Business Development for Education Services at DYOPATH
The most valuable asset that an organization can offer is security!
A place where you are uncertain of being secure is a place where you can never let your guard down. What you might not know, is that lack of cybersecurity can greatly affect the entire organization, such as your school district, from head to toe.
Addressing a School’s Need for Virtual Security
No doubt, schools take all the necessary measures when it comes to physical security, but what about the virtual one?
Just as an educational organization is responsible for the physical security of its employees and students, it is also responsible for securing sensitive information that includes names, addresses, social security numbers, health records, and employee forms.
As we know, we are living in a digital era where technology has taken control of all the things around us. Most of the data and sensitive information reside on electronic equipment rather than paper files. Such sensitive data could be stolen and cause serious consequences for your school district.
To fight an invisible predator within a school district, superintendents must have fully functional IT support to combat cyberattacks.
Due to these reasons, virtual security needs to be understood and a proper security program needs to be put into place to keep schools safe from security breaches.
Lack of Adequate IT Management
The main focus of a school’s IT department is to provide proper technical support for the smooth running of systems. In educational organizations, the IT issues could range from simpler to complex ones. However, keeping the system operational and safe from cyber risk requires a multi-faceted plan. If your school is facing a lack of adequate IT management, or perhaps your IT management is stretched thin between trying to maintain daily operations while safeguarding your data, you are likely at risk for system outages and productivity inefficiencies.
Cybersecurity Risks in School Districts
Educational organizations are prone to cyberattacks due to the open nature of their technology infrastructure. Schools’ technology infrastructure prioritizes the running of their systems rather than protecting them which makes the schools vulnerable to security breaches. Nowadays, schools are conducting classes remotely, leading to an increase in cybersecurity risks as online classes require the teaching staff, as well as the students, to fully depend upon the technology.
In the past few years, cyberthreats have increased across multiple organizations, including schools, to access sensitive information for heinous reasons, including identity theft, financial gain, and even to sell student information to pedophiles.
According to a survey, US schools lost approximately 24.5 million records due to 1,327 security breaches since 2005.
As accountability starts with understanding, you must first analyze your IT system to cope with cybersecurity risks. This could be understood by assessing your educational organization’s IT system through the following checks:
- Check #1: Does your school have no IT support?
Who helps your staff with technical issues that arise (which are all the more common now that learning has moved primarily online)? If your school has no IT support, your staff will be facing productivity issues and your security can be easily compromised. - Check #2: Does your school have very little IT support?
In this case, if more than one technical complexity happens at the same time, there will not be enough assistance to combat them, leaving the school to face complications, and possibly a cyberattack. - Check #3: Does your school have its own IT managers whose performance is being affected?
In this case, being burdened by providing IT support to every member of your organization and making sure that the system is running smoothly without any error, the internal IT management team could fail to ensure the proper security measures, which will make the school’s system vulnerable to cyberattacks.
How Outsourced IT Services Can Help Your K-12 School District
Outsourcing your school’s IT services will solve the above-mentioned problems. With a reliable IT Managed Services Provider like DYOPATH, you can experience multiple benefits in addition to relieving the stress that comes with worrying about your school’s cybersecurity.
- Cost-effectiveness:
Outsourced IT services are cost-effective when compared to the often hefty salary of an internal IT staff, and you also don’t have to bear the operational costs. At DYOPATH, we offer a wide range of customizable IT services so that you only pay for the services that your school district needs. We work with schools of every size and develop the best security program for each one’s unique goals. - Security risks mitigation:
The majority of security breaches occur due to the negligence of employees. Outsourced IT services provide proper security measures that mitigate security risks including data breaches.
DYOPATH gives 24/7 coverage to deliver our clients with outstanding IT system support for their schools. Whether you work with a small educational institution or a large one, DYOPATH has you covered with our wide range of unmatched IT services.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. As part of our “You Are Accountable to Your Own Community” campaign, we are aiming to arm superintendents with the knowledge and necessary security services to protect their schools and school districts from cyberattacks. In my supcoming blog in this campaign, I’ll be discussing how developing a framework for your school district’s cybersecurity program can provide the comprehensive protection that schools need.
You can learn more about DYOPATH and our Education Services by visiting our website.
Bill Spakowski, Director of New Business Development for Education Services
DYOPATH
About the author: Bill Spakowski is Director of New Business Development for Education Services at DYOPATH Bill started out by developing the K12 Education vertical to improve the education landscape for students through the integration of technology. Now, he focuses his time on developing the company’s strategy in the education space, creating new product offerings, focusing on student and staff achievements, and new business development in Education Services.