I heard the other day that the FCC is moving to get more aggressive in getting phone carriers to do all they can do to block spam and robocalls. I absolutely hate those calls on my cell or house phone that get through the basic spam filter only to be told that “my car […]
“Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do” – Neil Sedaka 1966 In the last 10 days we talked about the attacks on VCenter and recommended urgent patching. (If you have not yet patched and need assistance, please reach out to us). Last week I read how one of the latest ransomware variants actively scours Active […]
In August CISA added “Single Factor Authentication” to its list of practices it considers “exceptionally risky” as it exposes you to an “unnecessary risk from threat actors”. It has been officially added to CISA’s “Bad Practices Catalog”. My experience is that if CISA recommends it, Superintendent’s are much more amenable to implementing the recommendation.
As I have gotten older I have developed claustrophobia. MRI machines are now my nemesis. Fortunately, I have not needed one in a long time. However, in my 43 years of working in IT there is another thing I am now afraid of – these internet-based attacks on our clients.
I think by now everyone is officially open. I know some districts locally and in the Northeast had horrific transportation issues. I heard that the Governor of Massachusetts actually called out the National Guard to drive school buses to ensure that schools could open! These are crazy times, but we have to be creative […]
My daughter graduated just from High School. Immediately following her graduation, we leave for our yearly family vacation back to the Maine seacoast. It is the end of the school year and the holiday week. It is always quiet.
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link” -Thomas Reid, “Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man” – 1786 The SolarWinds Orion hack has been in the news for months now. It is now alleged that an “intern” put a very weak, easily crackable password on a critical system and then copied […]
There is nothing more important than keeping your district and staff and students safe. Cybersecurity is not a topic that you can simply check off the list as done. Much like the computer industry itself, six months ago was the Stone Age.
Today’s NIST topic is data recovery. The most obvious example of meeting this NIST standard is maintaining good backups. This is something we have all been doing forever, but as long as we have done it, I constantly see the same issues over and over.
Today we continue our look at a series of practical steps that districts can use to increase their NIST compliance. Looking at the complete set of NIST controls can be a daunting experience. One of the best ways we have found to make these cybersecurity improvements more attainable is following the CIS Controls Top […]
