Page 4 - THE Journal Innovation in Education, October 2021

Innovation in Education | PALO ALTO NETWORKS – learn more at paloaltonetworks.com
Closing in on Cybersecurity Stability
Finding balance among safety, continuity and enablement of education is the real goal of K-12 IT these days, and that’s not something you can buy in a box. Here’s how to achieve it.
Fadi Fadhil
Cybersecurity Strategist Palo Alto Networks
IGROUP THE BIG CHANGES IN K-12 THAT ARRIVED
with 2020 into four elements:
1. Remote and hybrid learning is here to stay.
Now that teachers, students and families have tried salt in their food, they’re not going to go back to the way it used
to taste. Technology is here to stay. We no longer have to wonder whether the computer will replace the pencil, like we did with the onset of online high-stakes testing years ago.
In three months, teachers transformed their instructional practices, making laptops the new classroom.
2. Software services have exploded.
The ease and simplicity of licensing and adopting software- as-a-service means schools have adopted learning systems that help with any number of activities — assigning and accepting homework, helping students practice specific skills, allowing for real-time engagement and collaboration, delivering content and the rest of it. However, now that means data — and especially personally identifiable information — is flying around, data that needs to be secured, monitored and prevented from being shared.
3. Issues of digital equity have become part of public discourse.
The technology have-and-have-not issue has existed seemingly forever. Prior to 2020, some schools did have one-to-one programs for computers and did leverage technology, allowing students to learn from anywhere, including from home. Often, the internet that came along with that was a low-cost, highly throttled deal that, when everybody had to stay home, hasn’t held up well under the entire family’s internet needs.
4. Bad actors have shown up to the party.
These sharks have smelled blood, which means we need to pay attention. While attacks began targeting K-12 in about
2016 in a serious way, those began escalating in 2018 and 2019, and by 2020 they skyrocketed. Like the pervasive use of technology in schools, cyber criminals are not going to stop or go back into their hiding places.
Traditionally, for good reasons, the conversation in K-12 has been focused on education. The priority for spending
has been steered toward academics — getting more support and training for teachers and trying to control the classroom size, for example. Technology, and especially cybersecurity, was a scheduled expense, up there with predictable plumbing problems and textbook replacement, but contained within the IT organization.
However, IT — and especially cybersecurity — has
now become a strategic element for education. Parents, superintendents, board members and executives within administration have realized that keeping data and systems safe can have a district-wide impact. Experience a data breach or a ransomware event and you’ll suffer damages that strike your budget as well as your reputation: Families will leave your schools to go to the district next door that didn’t have a break-in. That means it has become something that should be part of all decision-making.
Finding Your Balance
Unlike corporate America, K-12 can’t sink a ton of money into cybersecurity and call it a day. There’s hardly ever enough staff. Few districts can afford a dedicated chief information security officer. Funding new solutions can usually only happen one tool at a time. That means it’s all about balance.
Picture a three-legged stool:
ƒ One leg represents the safety of education, making sure people can use the systems and software without allowing the bad actors in.
ƒ Another leg represents the continuity of education,
4 | SPONSORED CONTENT