Key points:
- The nation continues to face a serious cyber workforce shortage
- Defending against future ransomware attacks requires investments in cybersecurity
- See related article: Solving the K-12 Cybersecurity Problem
- For more IT security news, check out eSN's IT Leadership page
According to a recent report According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), aggressive hacking tactics by threat actors are increasing in frequency and complexity against K-12 classrooms and higher education institutions.
Because public and private schools offer a large attack surface for exploitation, they often come under repeated attack by malicious hackers seeking financial gain or stealing confidential information from students and teachers. These cyberattacks create potentially dangerous effects on the education sector through the loss of instructional time and the cost of incident recovery.
It is no surprise that ransomware has hit the education sector hard. Schools often struggle to find room in the IT budget for a robust cybersecurity plan, and are further constrained by the difficulty of retaining IT talent to improve their overall security posture. As a result, hackers can often easily sneak through open vulnerabilities and wreak costly havoc on districts. Countering such devastating attacks efficiently will be key in the 2023-2024 school year.
Establish holistic approaches to security.
Strengthening defenses against future ransomware attacks requires institutions to prioritize cybersecurity investments, while improving talent retention strategies and automating their patching capabilities. The nation continues to face a severe cyber workforce shortage, and at the same time, most students in classrooms are not taught proper cyber hygiene or how best to defend themselves from exploitation in the digital world. It is clear that cybersecurity is not simply an issue for staff or faculty.
With the rise of malware, phishing campaigns, and distributed denial-of-service attacks, school systems require more eyes and ears than a single IT team can provide. Traditionally, IT teams in school districts or college campuses focus their efforts on external systems and often fail to adequately protect internal networks that are equally at risk. Higher education institutions are particularly susceptible to insider attacks. In fact, college infractions are more likely to come from a student who inadvertently or even intentionally causes a disruption. This adds another layer of risk that must be mitigated.
Promoting a culture of security awareness can transform how districts manage these cyber threats. Students and educators alike can learn how to quickly detect and report threats, how to maintain strong password management, and how to better protect themselves in an online digital environment. This holistic approach to risk and compliance is the foundation of an ecosystem that better defends against everyday cyber threats.
Critical vulnerabilities within unprepared systems are often due to two main factors: lack of effective threat detection and inadequate document storage on school-provided cloud drives. Without proper threat detection, it is extremely difficult to recognize and ultimately mitigate vulnerabilities in system software. For example, last September, a ransomware attack about the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) attracted national attention after it was confirmed that Social Security numbers and private, sensitive information of staff and students were exposed. Not only was this attack a data breach that damaged the school's trust and reputation, but it was also a massive disruption to the district and the availability of its network system. While it may not have been clear whether the root cause was actually an unpatched system or not, it is clear that unpatched systems or delayed patches can lead to these types of incidents.
Delayed patches mean that vulnerabilities can go undetected or ignored entirely for weeks or even months at a time. Unfortunately, some institutions may think that it is perfectly fine to designate certain times of the year for patch management. But trying to apply 6-month patches before the start of a new semester can financially and academically disrupt a K-12 district or university through long downtimes.
Traditional patch management is no more
This passive approach to patching means that the education sector must wait for patches to be automatically delivered and then manually installed, which can increase delays in addressing known vulnerabilities. It's no secret that patch management can be a frustrating and time-consuming process that requires scheduled maintenance and places a heavy manual workload on already overworked security teams. But by taking a more automated approach to patch management in universities, community colleges, and K-12 districts, the process is significantly simplified.
Live patching is a relatively new approach that works by modifying and intercepting code at runtime that does not disrupt normal system operations. Deploying automatic security patches not only frees up administrators, but also significantly reduces required downtime.
Some of the biggest benefits of switching to automated patching instead of traditional methods are:
- Reduced downtime and outages: Live patching minimizes the risk of unexpected system crashes, crashes, or downtime resulting from unpatched vulnerabilities. This ensures smooth operations, uninterrupted services and more secure student data.
- Timely vulnerability mitigation: Proactive patching ensures that vulnerabilities are addressed as soon as patches are available. This significantly reduces the window of opportunity for attackers, minimizing the risk of a successful exploitation.
- Reduces risky reboots: Live patching eliminates the need for scheduled maintenance windows in which a system can be rebooted or services performed. Rolling restarts and restarts alone can be risky and disrupt daily classroom operations if forced to temporarily close.
The digital transformation process for the education sector is crucial in light of the increase in targeted attacks. By protecting classroom environments through a robust vulnerability management platform and empowering IT administrators, educators, and students to focus their efforts on proactive defense strategies and awareness, schools can improve their ability to defend themselves and reduce the risk of exploitation.
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