Dirty, Rotten Phish

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Email phishing scams are flooding the Internet: How not to get lured in.

Nearly 85 percent of American and British organizations have been victims of phishing attacks, most delivered by email (other popular vehicles include mobile devices, social media, and phone calls).

Financial loss, productivity slowdown, and reputation damage are just some of the consequences companies like Seagate, Snapchat, and (ironically) the web-security company KnowBe4 have suffered after a strike.

Schools are juicy prey, too. And all it takes is one—just ...

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Ransomware: It Can Happen to You

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An old cybercrime that first surfaced in the late ‘80s, ransomware has re-emerged as a sinister plague.

It can infect school networks—and pretty much everyone else on the planet who has access to a computer and the Internet.

According to the FBI, ransomware victims in the U.S. doled out $209 million in first quarter 2016, compared to $24 million for all of 2015.

Ransomware sites are propagating like mad, reports Infoblox,with a 3,500 percent increase in first quarter 2016 over ...

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Social-Engineering Attacks. You’re More Vulnerable Than You Think.

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Are your endusers vulnerable to social engineering? The scammers are counting on it.

You’ve gone to great lengths to protect your school network with firewalls, filters, and anti-virus software. But you’ve still got a weak link (or hundreds). It’s called your end-user. Any one of staff members or students could fall for a social-engineering scam that devastates your entire system.

Hackers are increasingly clever and sophisticated as they “socially engineer” their victims into taking some sort of ...

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Protect Your Network From Hackers

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Could your school district be next? Here’s how to protect your network from hackers.

Hack jobs are on the rise. Every week, it seems, we hear stories about someone infiltrating a K–12 network. Sure, you do your best to protect your network from hackers. But it’s not so simple.

Among these hackers are crafty scammers, ranging from sophisticated evildoers to casual pranksters.

Cyber criminals are the big villains—they might plant malware, hijack networks, steal identity, or seize a hard drive for ransom. Then ...

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The Ultimate Back-to-School EdTech Checklist

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New school year—new headaches? With the ever-changing landscape of K–12 technology (New products! New rules! New needs!), the job of an IT director can be heartburn inducing.

A little bit of planning will go a long way. To help you get organized, we’ve compiled this handy EdTech checklist, so nothing slips through the cracks as you dive into the year ahead.

  • Make sure your budget is up to date and that you’ve accounted for all your school’s needs.
  • Review your school’s ...
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Get Smart About Spending Tech Dollars

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Budgeting for next year? Here’s how to get the best bang for your buck.

There’s a lot of pressure on IT directors to find excellent products and stay within (ever-shrinking) school tech budgets. It’s a tough balancing act. But with some careful planning and not-too-painful frugality, that mission can be accomplished. Read on.

Evaluate Your Current Resources

With rapidly changing technology, staff turnover, and everyone getting lost in the daily grind, it’s easy to lose track of what’s being used ...

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Everyone Says They Have “Great Customer Service.” Truth? Or Baloney?

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World’s most-told lie? “We have great customer service.” Your due diligence will uncover the truth. 

So, you just purchased an expensive system for your school. You were wowed by the product and impressed with the promise of “great customer service.”

You may even have paid for an enhanced service plan, which would surely guarantee top-notch support.

When something went wrong (as it inevitably does), you called the tech-support hotline. After punching through a phone tree, you sat on hold for a very ...

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The Terrible Perils of Cyberbullying

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No black eyes involved. But cyberbullying can have bruising, lifelong consequences. Here’s what you need to know. 

Bullying used to take place on the playground or in school hallways: an insult here, a shove there, the occasional black eye. Now there’s a new threat in town: cyberbullying.

This behavior plays out online—in emails and text messages; and on websites, blogs, and social-media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Cyberbullying can happen at home or at school. It occurs more ...

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How Students Bypass School Internet Filters and What You Can Do About It

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Savvy students can bypass school Internet filters to access prohibited info. What can you do? Plenty.

We’ve promoted our SecureSchool Internet filter on Google AdWords, and we’re (perhaps naively) surprised to find that many searchers are looking not for school Internet filters—but for ways to bypass those filters.

Go ahead: Google “how to bypass school Internet filters,” and you’ll find a slew of results devoted to this topic.

With kids so technologically astute nowadays, it’s becoming more and more ...

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The Pleasures and Perils of BYOD – Part II: The Perils

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The popularity of “bring your own device” is growing. But have you considered the disadvantages of BYOD?

BYOD (bring your own device) has caught on like wildfire, and K–12 schools throughout the country (and world) are madly adopting it. The benefits are many (see our rundown in Part I of the Pleasures and Perils of BYOD).

However, BYOD is not all a bed of roses. Beware the challenges you may face—and prepare to meet them head on with these ...

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