Pandemic Fuels Growth in Security Concerns, Cyberattacks on Schools

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Hikvision: Ways to Better Secure Your Home Network

The pandemic propelled school children into online learning faster than officials could prepare for the cyber landscape. Various cyber threats rose 18 percent in 2020, over the prior year, at K-12 schools. The reported rise in security concerns is covered in the SecurityInfowatch.com story, “Report: Cyberattacks increased as schools closed during pandemic.”

More than 400 cybersecurity incidents were publicly disclosed. These included ransomware attacks, security breaches, and attacks on online classrooms.

“2020 offered a profound stress test of the resiliency and security of the K-12 educational technology ecosystem. The evidence suggests that in rapidly shifting to remote learning school districts not only exposed themselves to greater cybersecurity risks but were also less able to mitigate the impact of the cyber incidents they experienced,” according to the article.

Other reported data about rising cyberattacks on schools included:

377 educational organizations were affected across 40 U.S. states.
Data breaches or data leaks accounted for 36 percent of cyber incidents.
12 percent of incidents were ransomware attacks that threatened to leak student’s data unless a ransom was paid.

The rapid shift to online learning did not allow for students and teachers to properly secure devices and reduce potential security concerns. Many devices are connected to home networks, which are often less secure than schools’ or organizational networks. Read this Hikvision article to learn ways to better secure your home network from threats: “Hikvision Senior Director of Cybersecurity: Tips to Improve Security While Working From Home, Ways to Reduce Hacks, Concerns.”

Cybersecurity