NYSCATE 2020 Annual Conference

Today’s K-12 district IT leaders are challenged by limited visibility and control over email, file sharing, and video conferencing in G Suite for Education and/or Microsoft 365 apps. According to the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center, 348 publicly-disclosed cyber incidents impacted districts in 2019, which almost triples the total in 2018. Furthermore, CoSN’s The “State of EdTech Leadership in 2020” survey found that 91% of respondents host their learning management systems (LMS) in the cloud, or plan to do so, and another 66% host their student information systems (SIS) in the cloud. On top of that, districts are increasingly adopting G Suite and Microsoft 365 cloud apps for communication, collaboration and document storage in schools.

This increase in adoption of cloud apps by districts has created limitations that expose districts to serious cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance risks. These include phishing, malware, account takeover, and data loss, as well as cyberbullying, self-harm, threats of violence, inappropriate images, explicit content, and more.

The exposure districts face has been there all along, but COVID-19 and the rapid shift to remote learning made it obvious, and the number of cyber incidents is expected to only increase in 2020. Schools must take a layered approach to protect G Suite and Microsoft 365 data in order to keep students and staff protected.

This session will discuss cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance challenges New York school districts face due to New York State Education Law 2-D, COVID-19, and remote learning. We’ll look at real-world use cases of how districts are tackling these challenges as they return for the 2020-2021 academic year.