Back to school for 2017 has come and gone. By now your kids are either settling into a routine in their new classrooms or they’ve started to navigate the social complexities of middle or high school, or they are adjusting to dorm life in college.
The back to school shopping lists were probably full of the usual pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, etc. Maybe you had some tech requirements, as well (I’m talking laptops, not just those graphing calculators that probably date me just a bit).
A recent survey shows one thing most parents haven’t given much thought to is what the schools are doing to keep their kids data safe, or even to protect themselves from a debilitating hack.
The study released by Radware shows that three out of four participants have never heard of a school or university being attacked by cybercriminals. While most think the threat is relatively low for elementary schools, over half (58 percent) of those surveyed believe it would be somewhat or very easy for a student to disrupt school or university operations (e.g., altering or canceling class schedules, access to test results, ability to shut down systems) through a cyber-attack.
Nearly half (48 percent) of respondents say they never receive communication from their student’s’ school or university containing cybersecurity tips or counsel to protect themselves, their children or their technology.
In the past year we’ve seen significant, headline grabbing cyber attacks aimed at the personal data of millions of Americans – usually tied to their financial information. While schools have avoided high profile incidents, you have to wonder if it is only a matter of time.