28 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • DECEMBER 2021
TECH INSIGHTS
HOW LONG ISLAND SCHOOLS CAN PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST CYBERATTACKS
Cyberattacks against school
systems, including the widely
reported one in Manhasset in
November, are a major problem
that have increased since
Covid-19 enabled hackers to take
advantage of vulnerabilities.
School systems that have been
attacked by hackers and other
bad actors (BAs) are often forced
to spend money on repairs,
upgrades and when they’re the
victims of ransomware attacks.
Vendors often oversize solutions
for clients in K-12 by proposing
sophisticated security-event
incident monitoring and
security operations centers that
are designed for big companies,
not schools. Tom Franson, vice
president of support services at
Custom Computer Specialists,
recently spoke with us about the
threat posed to school systems by
cyberattacks and what schools
can do to protect themselves.
Why are school systems
increasingly the targets of
cyberattacks? BAs typically
seek out targets of opportunity.
That is, there are very simple
and readily available tools that
allow BAs to scan a very broad
spectrum of potential targets
and identify those with the
weakest defenses. Public school
systems tend to move slower than
the private sector in deploying
newer security technologies.
What role did the pandemic
have on this trend? The
pandemic pushed public schools
into a distance learning posture
abruptly. In many cases, devices
and remote connection methods
were quickly deployed to meet
the emerging need without
undergoing proper security
review in advance. Poorly
protected, older machines
with out-of-date operating
systems/patching were a major
issue. What makes schools and
school districts specifically so
vulnerable to hackers? School
districts tend to have a broad
cross section of Personally
Identifiable Information (PII) in a
variety of systems and locations.
If BAs are able to gain initial
entry, they typically will look to
escalate their privileges and gain
access to data stores that contain
PII. PII is the data that holds value
for resale and ransom purposes.
What are the hackers typically
after when they attack schools
and school districts? Money is
the primary driver and PII is
usually the lever. Distributed
denial of service attacks are often
acts of vandalism and, in many
cases, undertaken by students to
disrupt the school day. They often
coincide with major test dates.
What kinds of attacks against
schools and school systems are
most common? Most attacks
have been using ransomware
over the past 24 months or so.
Prior to that, we were seeing
more business email compromise
attacks. Ransomware is the
dominant attack mode now
especially for public sector
clients because it provides an
opportunity to collect a ransom.
What should school districts
be doing to make themselves
less vulnerable? Get connected
with a reputable information
technology (IT) vendor. Look for
certifications from ISACA (CISA,
CISM) and ISC2 (CISSP, HCISPP,
SSCP). Ask what frameworks they
use and how that maps to your
environment. Beware of vendors
who lead with the solution.
What should a school or school
district do if it has become the
victim of a cyberattack? Contact
a reputable provider to assist
with recovery immediately. Time
is of the essence and important
decisions must be made within
the first 12 hours. Ask for
references from your provider.
What can Custom Computer
Specialists do to make school
systems less vulnerable?
Number one is by limiting your
attack surface. We make you a
smaller, tougher target by using
a variety of tactics, configuration
changes and tools. We want the
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
BAs to look at your environment
and conclude that it’s too much
work. You don’t have to outrun
the bear. You just have to outrun
your neighboring district.
Custom Computer Specialists is
proud to sponsor Tech Insights.
Since 1979, Custom has been
dedicated to providing Long
Island’s schools, local government
agencies, healthcare facilities
and businesses with advanced
technology solutions and support.
To learn more about Custom
Computer, or to be considered for
a future Tech Insights, please email
info@customtech.com.
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(800) 598-8989
Tom Franson
info@customonline.com
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