I C T M AT T E R S
CYBER-SECURITY
WarGames how safe is your school?
T
IAN STOCKBRIDGE, ANME member and ICT manager at Concord College, discusses why you might need to channel an ‘80s film in order to stay cyber-safe in your school
ake a moment to congratulate yourselves and your teams for helping to provide education in the most challenging conditions since World War II. COVID-19 has taken the most terrible toll on friends, family and the economy globally. It can be hard to find a silver lining when something so tragic happens, but that is exactly what I would like to try to do. Delivering education in these terrible conditions has made schools across the country look at IT in a completely different way - adopting new IT systems and practices in weeks that, in normal circumstances, would have been delayed by years of procrastination and discussion.
28
May 2022
We have delivered benefits to staff and students that will last beyond COVID-19, and I take great heart in that. The problem with having delivered remote access and teaching is that security policies and technical measures may not have adapted at the same rate and the world of cyber-crime has been quick to take advantage of this. Ransomware attacks targeted at education, and their devastating effects over the past 24 months, have all too often made the headlines. Society needs to holistically review cyber-security and acknowledge our dependence on technology. We all have a responsibility to better protect the systems we depend on and the government has
never been more explicit on this; so far this year they have published a National Cyber Strategy and a Government Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2030. It makes sense that we in the education sector do our part in reviewing our own cyber-defences in 2022, identifingy where improvements need to be made so that we can continue to do what we do best – help deliver education. AN APOLLO 13 MOMENT The most crucial first step in this journey is getting support from the highest level. It should be clear to all the value IT has delivered over the last two years in the education sector. It was
