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Harris County School District

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2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Month Introduction

2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Month logo

Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Introduction

Like getting your steps in or lifting from your knees, secure habits keep you safe and your online reputation healthy. This October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — a collaborative effort between government and organizations like ours to ensure everyone has the resources and knowledge they need to stay secure at work and at home. In the coming weeks, we’ll share a variety of resources to help you outsmart cyberthreats and protect you and your family from online attacks. We encourage you to read and share the information with your colleagues, friends and family. The overarching theme is Own IT. Secure It. Protect IT.

Own IT.

  • Never click and tell: staying safe on social media
  • Update privacy settings
  • Keep tabs on your apps: best practices for device applications

Secure IT.

  • Shake up your passphrase protocol: create strong, unique passphrases
  • Double your login protection: turn on multi-factor authentication
  • Shop safe online
  • Play hard to get with strangers: how to spot and avoid phish

Protect IT.

  • If you connect, you must protect: updating to the latest security software, web browser and operating systems
  • Stay protected while connected: Wi-Fi safety
  • If you collect it, protect it: keeping customer/consumer data and information safe

Our goal is to keep each week's training brief, make it effective, and make it entertaining. Each week we will briefly address a different aspect of cybersecurity. Each Thursday afternoon there will be a Quizizz game on that week's topic. The winner will receive a new wireless mouse, some Chick-fil-A food, and some HC swag. All Quizizz participants will be receive an entry in the grand prize drawing at the end of the month for a weekly prize pack plus an Amazon Echo Dot. (For home use, not classroom use.)

*Game and grand prize drawing details below.

When it comes to cybersecurity, knowledge is power. Join us this October in the fight against cybercrime!

Let's begin!

Human Error's Guide to Keeping Security Simple

According to a recent TechRadar article, 90% of data breaches are caused by human error. School districts are very popular targets because of the high level of personal identifying information contained in their records. The K-12 Cyber Incident Map shows reported cybersecurity-related incidents in U.S. K-12 public schools and districts since January 2016. It is staggering to see how many districts have been hit in this time. Many of these incidents are caused by human error--someone clicks on a bad link; someone opens a bad email attachment; someone inadvertently discloses information that can be used to break into the network. Attacks can cripple a school district for weeks and the cost of recovery can climb into hundreds of thousands of dollars. As we go through Cybersecurity Month, we will discuss ways to better secure our data and things to watch out for.

Our network firewalls and email protection systems are great, but it just takes one person to bypass all of that. As a member of the Harris County School District team, you are our first line of defense. You are a part of our Cybersecurity Team! 

you are part of our cybersecurity team
  
literally the best team ever

*One person will receive a weekly prize. The winner will be determined by the highest score in the Quizizz game. In the event of a tie, the winner will be drawn at random from the highest scoring participants.

Participants in the weekly Quizizz games will receive one entry in the grand prize drawing at the end of the month for each Quizizz game. If you participate in five weekly Quizizz games, for example, you will have five entries in the drawing. Participants will not receive more than one grand prize entry per week.

Harris County School District Technology and Instructional Technology staff are welcome to play, but are not eligible for prizes.