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ANY DEVICE OPTIMISED AND SECURED

With school budgets becoming increasingly squeezed, how can you equate the spend on security solutions with benefits to the school when all areas are clamouring for more funding?

Typically over time, technology is added to a schools’ network infrastructure to meet each new requirement. However, from funding to security efficacy, patchwork networks can be very costly to maintain.

Too much noise is a threat in itself

Many schools still operate a patchwork set of security solutions from a variety of different vendors. Perhaps you inherited this patchwork, or your IT provider has changed over the years and each one has sold you new technology without considering your overall security needs? Ideally your security environment will protect you from the full spectrum of cyber threats, with each component alerting you – in harmony – whenever signs of an attack are detected. However unless using integrated security solutions from a single specialist security vendor, or using a cleverly integrated event/log correlation solution to combine the information generated by each tool, schools will simply not get to see the big picture and cannot provide the monitoring required through all the ‘noise’ each tool generates.

Optimise your cybersecurity investment

In our security audit and assessment work, we frequently find patchwork environments that do not communicate with each other as well as solutions with security features that have not been configured optimally or even turned on at all. From a budgetary perspective most organisations (especially schools) can’t just rip-out and replace, but having your entire security architecture in-tune is critical for security. Any gaps in your defences are likely to result in a breach with the potential to be catastrophic to your organisation.

Infosec Partners are perhaps one of only a few security service providers that can actually deliver full-spectrum security whilst supporting any-vendor any-device. We will help you optimise your security investment by making the most of your existing security devices. If they can’t provide the security you need – based on your risk profile – we’ll help you identify the best solution, which might even be OPEX alternatives to help you better manage your budget whilst enhancing your security.

Schools are low-hanging fruit

Attackers have identified schools as “low-hanging fruit” because they are often ill-equipped to spot signs of cyber fraud. Criminals have become increasingly sophisticated in their approach, making the threat of a cyber-attack less apparent. By using publicly available information, often from organisations’ websites and social media, criminals can gain the trust of unsuspecting staff members, increasing the chance that a harmful email attachment would then be opened from someone purporting to be a legitimate sender.

FREE CONSULTATION

Are you trying to work out how to make the most of your security investment or concerned about potential gaps in your defences?

Please leave a few contact details and one of our Trusted Advisors will get back to you. Or call us to speak with someone immediately:

+44 (0)203 892 4812

secure@infosecpartners.com

RECENT CYBER ATTACKS ON SCHOOLS

JANET, a research and educational network in England, has been the victim of several denial-of-service attacks over the last year. JANET connects the networks of 19 different regional universities. The sophisticated attacked rippled through these networks, resulting in degradation to network services and performance.
US universities Rutgers, Arizona State, and University of Georgia have all experienced denial-of-service attacks over the last year. These attacks have caused a number of issues resulting in delays during registration and final exams. These attacks completely completely saturate the network, preventing students from being able to connect to the network.
A Vancouver high school suffered network service degradation following a student successfully compromising their teacher’s email account and began spamming out emails in bulks to a list of over 50,000 email addresses. This action of spamming slowed down the school’s network operation. The student was expelled.
A 15-year-old in Australia is facing 10 years in jail for launching one of the largest DDoS attacks in the country’s history. The attack was so large that around 10,000 customers for the local ISP NuSkope were also affected. This attack was directed at a number of targets including Reynella East College. The attacker said that he launched the assault as a test.

One in three universities in the UK face cyber attacks on an hourly basis, with exam and dissertation results targeted alongside personal data and research.
A college in India was hacked and defaced by a group named Pak Cyber Attacker. The attack was launched against both the official website of Utkal University and the e-admissions page. At the time of this report, the e-admissions page was not accessible.
A 16-year-old student in Japan downloaded an attack tool to his desktop and carried out an attack on the Osaka Board of Education server, resulting in 444 elementary, junior highs, and high school websites being knocked offline. He was monitoring the attack from his cellphone and expressed that he wanted to join Anonymous, the worldwide hacktivist group. This student ultimately launched this attack due to his frustration with his school teachers.
Action Fraud, the UK’s cybercrime and fraud reporting centre, has issued an alert to warn teachers of the dangers posed by cold-callers posing as officials from the “Department of Education”. Fraudsters ask to be given the personal email or phone number of the head teacher, claiming that they need to send over sensitive guidance about mental health or exams which cannot be sent to a generic school account – the emails sent are loaded with ransomware.

Infosec Partners has helped education establishments, from the most prestigious independent schools & colleges to the country’s top universities, to successfully develop robust security strategies and manage Safeguarding.

Listening to Heads and Bursars, Teachers, Students and Parents, we designed a portfolio of cybersecurity services specifically for schools. Infosec Partners helps schools understand the new threats facing them and teaches them how to take control of information and security, staying compliant, managing budgets and risks.