School districts are consistently being targeted for cyber attacks across the state. Cyber attacks present a persistent threat to student data, staff data, instructional time, payroll, and other district assets. It is common for cybercriminals to target high-ranking district officials and the school district’s business office. It is important districts remain vigilant in responding to and preparing for cyber threats.

School districts can protect their employees by:

• Provide security awareness to business offices, educators, and staff. 
• Ensure employees are using unique passwords for critical accounts used to access sensitive information. 
• Utilize multi-factor authentication on sensitive systems and information. 
• Create and/or update protocols that require additional scrutiny to banking changes that appear to be requested by administration or staff. 
• Have a communication and response plan in place for when a cyber event does occur. 

Security awareness training can be accessed by:

• Arkansas’ P-12 Cyber Incident Response Team provides monthly security awareness alerts that can be accessed by subscribing to the Security Awareness Insider. https://arkansas.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3005d9da8e578c221bac88abf&id=bdca0c1c1a 
• Technology Coordinators located at each education service cooperative are available as a resource for security awareness and data responsibility training in every region.
• The Criminal Justice Institute's (CJI) Cybersecurity Defense Initiative (CDI) is a national cybersecurity training program available at no cost to the school district. https://cybersecuritydefenseinitiative.org/

Additional information for cyber incident response and security awareness can be found by visiting our webpage.

https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/research-and-technology