The education sector has experienced a significant transformation over the last few years, with traditional classrooms expanding into virtual spaces. While this shift has opened up new possibilities and enhanced educational experiences for students and educators, it also exposes educational institutions to more cybersecurity risks.
Ransomware Attacks on the Rise in the Education Sector
Last year, the education sector experienced a staggering 65 individual ransomware attacks, affecting 1,436 schools and as many as 1,074,926 students. These attacks resulted in an estimated cost of $9.45 billion, while individual institutions lost 11.65 days in downtime, on average. The disturbing trend continues in 2023, with 37 confirmed attacks reported in the first half of the year, surpassing the 26 incidents recorded during the same period in 2022.*
The alarming rise in ransomware attacks targeting educational institutions underscores the pressing need for robust campus network security measures. If you’re not taking proactive steps to protect your institution’s network, you leave yourself vulnerable to devastating consequences. This includes data loss, a disrupted learning environment, a tarnished brand image, and, of course, significant financial devastation.
Five ways to safeguard your campus network security
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to fortify campus network security and protect your institution from these emerging risks:
- Implement robust authentication protocols: Ensure strong user authentication measures are in place to verify the identity of individuals accessing the network. Consider implementing multi-factor authentication that requires users to provide multiple forms of verification, such as passwords and biometrics data.
- Regularly update software and firmware: Keep up with the latest patches and security updates to your network devices, operating systems, and applications. Frequent updates radically improve your ability to address dangerous vulnerabilities and protect against potential exploits.
- Use network segmentation: Contain potential breaches and restrict unauthorized movement within your network using network segmentation. This is where you divide your network into smaller, isolated sections. With more granular control over your network, you can reduce your attack surface while enhancing visibility over your entire network security landscape.
- Consider intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) tools: Leverage IDPS technology to monitor network traffic, detect potential threats, and proactively block or mitigate attacks. Offering real-time monitoring, threat analysis, and automated response capabilities, IDPS tools significantly bolster your network’s resilience and protect business continuity.
- Educate and train users: Your network security is only as good as the awareness and actions taken by your users. Hold regular security awareness training sessions for students, faculty, and staff. Teach them about things like phishing scams, password best practices, and the importance of reporting suspicious activities. By fostering a security-conscious culture, users become an active line of defense against cyber threats.
By taking proactive steps to safeguard your campus network, you can establish a robust defense against evolving cyber threats. This allows your organization to provide a secure and uninterrupted educational experience for your students, faculty, and staff.
Not sure where to start? Zunesis can help. With advanced expertise in Aruba Networks’ comprehensive campus network security solutions, our team can help you protect your network infrastructure. We have the expertise to help you maintain a secure environment for your institution and the students you serve.
Impact on Adolescence
In the time of coronavirus, traditional hallmarks of the high school experience disappeared. No graduations for the Class of 2020. No proms and no sport activities to participate in or watch . Schools moved to remote learning.
Many teens I talked to feel robbed of memories they were supposed to make in these formative high school years. Prom and graduation are integral parts of what makes all of the work pay off. Now, that’s been taken away.
Adolescence is the time when young people start to piece together who they are, or at least who they’ll be right now. Many of the pieces lost to the virus. The effects of the pandemic have teens feeling angry, anxious and depressed.
Lockdown is limiting their identity
It’s hard enough being a teenager on a good day. But the conditions that accompany social distancing may exacerbate the painful parts of adolescence to the point of crisis. Adolescents typically have a heightened reactivity to stress. This is the result of hormonal fluctuations and changes in brain development.
All this change is overwhelming. The autonomy and independence that teens crave is next to impossible to achieve when most places, besides their own homes, are or have been off limits.
This period of isolation has caused social reorientation for teens. Typically, teens spend a sizable chunk of their days at school. They tune into their peers on whom they rely to form their own feelings and opinions. Now they’re tuning in (or out) to the adults with whom they live with. Teens are considered digital natives and therefore are likely better at navigating virtual friendships. But, they’re still missing the vital, in-person benefits of relationships.
Traumatic events have a very specific effect on teens
Traumatic national events, while rare, can move teens in subtle ways and gradually erase their sense of self.
Most teens today weren’t born at the time of the 9/11 attack. But they’ve already lived through personal traumas and collective ones, notably gun violence in schools.
The emotional turbulence of teen life makes them more susceptible to depression and anxiety. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says 50% of mental illnesses develop by age 14 and 75% develop by age 24.
Although it’s far too early to measure the impact of the pandemic on teens in terms of their mental health and academic achievement, the effects could last a long time. Many teenagers could emerge from this time more resilient than they knew they could be.
How to Get Help for Depression in Adolescents
There are many effective treatments for depression such as psychological treatments. They include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and medications, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibiters, also known as SSRIs. It may seem daunting to engage a new therapist or psychiatrist during this time. Many providers, including those at NYU Langone, have been able to adapt to the current climate by providing telemedicine appointments via video visits.
What Teens Need During a Pandemic
While teens hate being told what to do, this is likely one of those times when a little authoritative parenting is in order. The most compassionate thing we can offers teens is our insistence that they fulfill expectations and do things that are in their own best interest.
Dr. Katherine Williamson, a California pediatrician and media representative for the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends staying on a schedule to maintain a sense of normalcy, eating healthy and exercising regularly.
Communication with your teenager during this time is extremely important. Providing fact-based information about the virus will help you establish creditability and trust.
If your child asks if you are worried, be honest. Validating their feelings and concerns will open up conversations that will help you be a supportive parent.
Growing reliance on the use of technology to learn, live, and stay connected
Beyond the emotional impact of the virus, it has impacted the way adolescents learn. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom. There is a distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms.
Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology or edtech. Global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019. The overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025. Whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19.
Research suggests that online learning increases the retention of information. It takes less time. This means the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay.
What does this mean for the future of learning?
Some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning – with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation – will result in a poor user experience that is unconducive to sustained growth. While others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits.
“I believe that the integration of information technology in education will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education,“ says Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education.
Students of all ages will need to adjust to this new world of learning. Not only during the pandemic but for years to come.
Zunesis Can Help You Plan for The Future
Zunesis has partnered for many years with K-12 and higher education clients on many of their IT projects. We understand the needs of our education customers. We search for new innovative products and solutions to meet their needs. As edtech evolves in the this new world, we will continue to search for new ways to help. Contact Zunesis today to find out more.
E-Rate – “Free Money” from the Government for Education Customer Networks!
As a “go-to” E-rate services provider for our valued networking partners, Aruba Networks and Extreme Networks, we have discovered that many hundreds of millions of unspent “E-Rate” monies are still available to customers in the Rocky Mountain Region. This includes K-12 education as well as many libraries, and some child development (pre-K) centers. E-Rate is a great way to refresh aging networking equipment in all or part of your organization and have a large portion of the costs paid for by the US government. Below are some frequently asked questions we wanted to share and answer. We find that many smaller entities may not be aware of this program or the fact that they have “money to spend”. Zunesis can help them design and implement E-rate compliant, modern, and rugged internal network connection (wired and wireless) infrastructures.
What is E-Rate?
The Universal Service Schools and Libraries Program – commonly known as the E-rate program – provides discounts on telecom, internet access, and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries. E-rate is funded through the Universal Service Fund (USF). You will see a small fee at the end of each of your land line or wireless service phone bill. This small fee is collected to help fund this program along with additional federal funding. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) writes the rules and standards for this program. The administrator of the E-rate program is the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).
Have you received your E-rate funding and how is funding determined?
Did you know that all applicants who submitted an eligible and timely E-rate application in 2015 through 2019 will receive their funding? Many schools have yet to take advantage of the over $4 billion dollars in available E-rate funding. For K-12/charter schools, E-rate discounts range from 20% to 90% of eligible project costs. Discounts are district wide, and an applicant’s discount rate is determined by the percentage of students that qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch.
How do I choose a Service Provider?
A service provider like Zunesis needs to be selected as part of a specific and regimented bidding process. E-rate applicants must conduct a fair and open competitive bidding process. All applicants must select the most cost-effective service provider. The price of the eligible products and services must be the most heavily weighed bid evaluation factor. Although other factors such as local presence to the state/community, service provider expertise on the proposed product, and ability to provide a complete solution (including implementation) may be other important weighing factors.
Why apply for E-Rate funding this year?
There has never been a better time to apply for E-rate funding. Because of the increased funding cap, available roll-over funds, and remaining Category Two (aka. “Internal Connections” such as wired switches and wireless access points) maximum budget funds, it is likely that there will be enough funding to support the entire demand in the current fiscal year as well. Also, applicants that seek E-rate funding this year will not have to compete for dollars against the applicants that will have their Category Two budgets refresh in future fiscal years (2020 and beyond).
How do I apply for E-Rate funding?
To apply for E-rate funding, simply follow the 6-step process outlined in Figure 1 below:
How do I determine if product is E-rate eligible?
It’s important to note that not all networking solutions are E-rate eligible. For example, you can find eligibility of Aruba products using their E-rate Eligibility Lookup Tool.
The following table highlights products that are eligible under the current E-rate program from Aruba Networks as a for-instance.
How can Zunesis help?
Zunesis believes in working with our E-rate eligible clients well prior to “step 1” of the above chart to help educate the customer on some of the best available options for their particular environments. As not all customer needs are the same, we feel it is always best to have a face to face meeting to walk through example environments, discuss customer needs, and provide valuable input into the Competitive Bid process. Please contact your Zunesis account manager to setup your E-Rate readiness review today!
Additional Resources
Aruba Networking Education Solutions
Primary education has come a long way. Classrooms with desks, notebooks, textbooks, and content-centric curriculums have evolved to a more student-centered learning experience. Several technology trends are further driving the need for mobile computing within the classroom.
4 Trends Driving Adoption of Mobile Technology in the Classroom
E-learning has grown into a multibillion-dollar market in the primary education (K-12) arena.1 Educational publishers are seeing their revenues from digital materials (electronic textbooks and other tools) eclipse revenues from printed textbooks.2 The upside for publishers, as well as research into best practices for e-learning, have led to four important trends driving adoption in the classroom:
- Licensing models — Publishing companies offer cost-effective e-licensing models for schools to present students with the most current information.
- Supplementary tools — Other materials beyond traditional textbooks are now available to supplement the curriculums to help students have access to as much information as possible.
- Gamification — This enhances learning, as students enjoy the challenges and competitive aspects that stimulate learning.3
- Personalized learning — Students learn at different rates, and they more effectively acquire the collaboration and innovation skills required for college and beyond when learning environments are augmented with technology.
While all this is good news for students, one of the biggest challenges for 1:1 learning initiatives is the need for teachers to embrace the technology. If the technology or software is perceived to be too cumbersome, teachers will not willingly support it. Therefore, for any district-wide or school-wide implementation of mobile technology, teachers need to feel comfortable and find value in it.
So, What Makes a Good Mobile Solution for K-12 Education?
Built for Students
Modern learning is often project-based, which requires reading and creation of content, collaboration, and presentation. More schools recognize that preparing students for technology-based fields — such as engineering, computer science, and vocations that require either coding or math calculation — requires the use of mobile technology that supports this sort of functionality.
However, students are tough on most things, including their own smartphones and textbooks. Therefore, devices need to be rugged and able to withstand drops, spills, and shocks. Devices should also be thin enough to fit easily in a backpack.
Built for Teachers
We’ve highlighted the important aspects of personal devices, such as laptops, from a student’s perspective. However, to be successful, teachers need solutions that accomplish the following:
- Enable teachers to differentiate instruction so students at different levels can learn successfully at their own rate.
- Facilitate instruction through software and collaborative tools. Solutions should help teachers orchestrate their classrooms, and save time with easier lesson planning, administrative and assessment workflows.
- Monitor student progress. Software that links the students’ devices with those of teachers can help teachers discern areas where students are individually or collectively having trouble.
1:1 Solutions Designed Specifically for Schools
HP has invested time and money in understanding the education market and gathering feedback from thousands of teachers, students, and school administrators to created impactful education technology. HP Education solutions, such as the HP ProBook x360 11 G1 Education Edition, are designed and built for dynamic learning environments to enable anytime, anywhere creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking while meeting lean budget requirements. Their goal is to create richer educational experiences, improve learning outcomes, and save teachers time.
If you are interested in implementing a 1:1 learning initiative in your school district, consider how convertible laptops from HP can cost-effectively enrich your curriculum and better prepare your students for the next part of their journey, whether it’s college or a job, as well as save your teachers time and help them engage their students more effectively.
GovEd Customers in Colorado Now Have Access to an HPE-Aruba Networking Contract Vehicle.
Zunesis is pleased to announce that we are now able to provide Aruba Networks (an HPE Company) wireless equipment, software, and support service to our valued education (K-12, Higher Education, etc.) and government (state, local, districts, etc.) customers and prospects in Colorado!
The contract, Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), extends competitive discounts to our Colorado GovEd customers without the need of a time-consuming and exhaustive bid/RFP process, and brings the added benefit of working with an in-state small business, Zunesis, Inc.
According to Aruba and HPE sources, campus technology leaders are demanding that mobile devices enable protection of both their network and the data within the devices on campus. The trend of using mobile devices is ever growing. Educational institutions must rapidly accept the Internet of Things (IOT) within their technology solutions. The Aruba portfolio enables institutions to accommodate this trend while maintaining the security of data and networks.
With the influx of mobile and internet enabled devices on campuses, there is a huge need to enhance current networks and ensure network security. The capabilities that Aruba brings to the table are truly game-changing. Aruba’s approach allows organizations to securely connect mobile and IoT devices coming onto the network to existing infrastructure, delivering visibility and policy control.
Zunesis has also been awarded Aruba Silver partner status, which means that you can work with Zunesis with the confidence that we are providing best-in-class pre-sales engineering consulting, ongoing technology training internally, and keeping our customers up to date on what is new and developing…in addition to the important facet of providing the best pricing available to our customers.
Coupled with our existing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Platinum DataCenter Elite status and our existing NASPO ValuePoint indirect contract fulfillment vehicle for industry leading ProLiant server, storage (3PAR, StoreVirtual, StoreOnce, MSA), and wired networking solutions (along with related HPE services and software), and our existing MHEC contract vehicle for VMware’s suite of data center optimization software (and services), Zunesis can now provide a full end-to-end data center to end-point solution with popular contract vehicles to our Government and Education customers in Colorado.
Contact your Zunesis account manager for more information on these programs, and learn how we can help plan and develop together your IT infrastructure strategy!
See below for more information:
