| | November - 20188IN MY OPINIONMy first experience with cybersecurity in education took place on a warm day in May over 20 years ago. I was a middle school student and had been offered a challenge by my teacher that I couldn't pass up. "Do you think that you can hack into our school network?" My teacher knew that I had an interest in technology especially in the area of security. After ten minutes of poking around the network and identifying an open admin account, I was in. The school district office was called, a brief interview took place in which I shared what I had found, and the next day I was offered a job as a student worker. The rest is history. So, what have I learned about security through my roles as a Network Administrator, Manager of Technology, Assistant Director and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer?The basics never stop being importantThere is a lot to think about in terms of security in education, however, if your organization isn't doing the basic things right, a lot can go wrong. When it comes to the basics:· Make sure that you have an inventory of your network equipment. You can't update and monitor devices that you've lost track of.· Create a realistic update cycle. Perhaps you can't commit to weekly updates, but at least once a month, make sure everything is up to date. It's not just servers! Don't forget about load balancers, routers, switches, and other firmware-based devices.By Greg Gazanian, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Arcadia Unified School DistrictWhy Treat Students as the Enemy When it Comes to Cybersecurity?If students are brought into the conversation then they become allies in a mutual effort towards cyber safety and securityGreg Gazanian
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