Cyber threats: how can schools protect themselves?

Cyber threats come in many different forms.  At the moment, ‘ransomware’ attacks have been getting a lot of press coverage; some of us might even have experienced one first hand.  For an attack to be successful, cyber-criminals need to target users, such as systems administrators, who have full access to a wide amount of data. 

Schools are just as vulnerable as the NHS and other organisations to such security risks. 

So as a School leader, what can you do to limit the chance of your school or trust being targeted?  One thing is for sure; if you haven’t done so already, you need to do a security audit as a key part of your ICT strategy.

Top of your action list will be to ensure regular backups of your system with a copy of all your files stored safely off-site, using cloud services.

Other preventative measures should include:

• Restricting what any individual can access across the School’s network
• Configuring the network so that malware can’t jump from host to host
• Using up-to-date antivirus software
• Developing School policies for the transfer of data
• Testing your backups
• Getting experts to test the integrity of your network
• Ensuring everyone knows about cyber security
• Checking firewall logs regularly and actioning them
• Developing password strategies
• Ensuring authentication tools are in place for any remote access
• Making sure all systems are updated with latest software releases

Get a more detailed copy of how to protect your School or Trust from cyber-criminals by downloading our Novatia Note here: 

Alternatively, if you’d like to know more about how Novatia can assess your School or Trust’s current cyber security, please visit www.novatia.com/audits or call us on 01962 832632 to arrange to speak to one of our consultants.