Lisa McComsey, Author at K12USA

How to Keep Students Safe Online

So much lurks in cyberspace that can harm kids. Here’s how to keep your students safe online.

Thanks to CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act), schools that request E-Rate funding are required to put Internet filters and other safety features in place to shield students from pornography and other inappropriate images. But keeping students safe online isn’t that easy.

Blocking websites, monitoring email, limiting Internet usage, and monitoring kids’ cyber activity is just the beginning. To steer clear of dangers like cyberstalking, ...

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26
OCT
2016

0

Student Safety

internet safety tips, keep students safe online, online safety for students, student safety online, teaching internet safety, teaching internet safety in the classroom

Benefits of an Automated School Help Desk

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

If you’re still running your school help desk the old-fashioned way, it’s time to automate.

So you are the school help desk. Do you find yourself:

Digging through a messy pile of trouble tickets?
Frantically searching emails for work requests?
Spending hours on the phone assigning tasks and chasing down your repair team?
Getting bombarded by staff requests every time you hit the vending machine?
Logging issues manually on a spreadsheet?
Losing work orders?
Suffering from headaches, hair pulling, and random outbursts?

You’re not alone. Many schools—particularly ...

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24
OCT
2016

0

Customer Service, Tools & Resources

benefits of help desk software, benefits of help desk ticketing system, benefits of online help desk, cloud based help desk, cloud based help desk system, cloud help desk, it help desk software

Is Wi-Fi Safe? Are Children at Risk? The Debate Rages On.

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

“Wi-Fi is safe.” “Wi-Fi is dangerous.” Hear both sides of the debate and decide where you fall.

Our homes, businesses, schools, coffee shops, and even airplanes are all going wireless, allowing us to be connected 24/7. It’s incredibly convenient—and most of us can’t imagine life without Wi-Fi.

But is Wi-Fi safe?

There’s a lot of controversy about the potential health risks of the wireless radiation emitted by Wi-Fi, cellphones, and other devices—especially in children. Some say living in a “virtual sea ...

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20
OCT
2016

1

Student Safety, Technology Issues

children and wifi, is wi-fi harmful, is wi-fi safe?, wi-fi, wifi, wireless radiation

“Unlock” & Content-Filter HTTPS Traffic With SSL Intercept

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

The world is going HTTPS. Is your school prepared?

The recent and rapid adoption of HTTPS (hyper text transfer protocol secure) has made Internet use safer. By encrypting data over a secure socket layer (SSL), the communication between a client (e.g., a browser) and the server can’t be intercepted—which protects against eavesdropping, tampering, and man-in-the-middle attacks.

HTTPS was once relegated to banks, online shops, and sites that request financial and other sensitive information. But thanks to the NSA’s ...

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16
OCT
2016

1

Technology Issues

filtering encrypted traffic, filtering https traffic, how to content filter https, ssl intercept, ssl interception, tmitm, trusted man in the middle

Lousy Wi-Fi Performance? How to Remedy This Annoying Problem.

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

Slow Wi-Fi is exasperating. Here’s what’s slowing you down to snail’s pace—and what you can do about it.

With nearly 90 percent of K–12 schools allowing students and staff to use personal devices on their networks, BYOD offers tremendous learning and cost-saving opportunities.

But it also means a lot of people are vying to get—and stay—connected to your Wi-Fi network. And that may be an exercise in frustration.

Here are six possible culprits for slow Wi-Fi and what you can do ...

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10
OCT
2016

0

Technology Issues

lousy wi-fi performance, slow wi-fi, slow wi-fi performance, slow wi-fi speeds, slow wifi

Hacked Website: Myth Versus Reality

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

Yes, a hacked website can happen to your school. Here, the myths, misinformation, and truths. Plus, tips for protecting yourself.

If you surfed the Internet in 1994, you could probably have gone to all 3,000 websites. (And back then, a hacked website was rare.) Today, you’d be hard pressed to visit even a tiny fraction of the billion-plus sites out there.

Exponential growth has come at a price: About one percent—or ten million—of these websites are hacked or infected.

While your ...

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6
OCT
2016

0

Security

cyber crimes, cybercriminals, Hacked website, how to prevent website hacks, website hackers

The Emotional and Legal Consequences of Sexting

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

Sexting can have severe repercussions for K-12 students. Embarrassment is just the beginning.

A well-known politician posts a photo of his private parts on Twitter. The image gets leaked, he suffers humiliation, and the Congressman ultimately resigns in disgrace. Now there’s an entire Wikipedia article devoted to the incident. “Sexting for adults” one thing.

But when an underage kid sends and/or receives a sexually explicit photo, the consequences could be far worse than just being embarrassed or publicly shamed.

Depending on the jurisdiction, he ...

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2
OCT
2016

0

Student Safety

consequences of sexting, is sexting illegal, kids and pornography, sext, sext education, sexters, sexting

Dirty, Rotten Phish

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

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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30
SEP
2016

1

Security

cyber crimes, cyber criminals, cyber scams, phishing, spear phishing, whaling

Ransomware: It Can Happen to You

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

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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27
SEP
2016

0

Security

cyber crimes, cybercriminals, malware, phishing, ransomware

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

Posted by: Lisa McComsey

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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24
SEP
2016

0

Security

cyber crimes, cyber criminals, social engineering