Focused Education Resources is committed to supporting school districts as you work to protect the privacy of students and their families, educators, staff, and your operations from the growing threat of cyber attack.
This section provides a centralized resource where you will find the knowledge and tools to support you in every aspect of cybersecurity. This includes best practices to mitigate threats and to plan for a timely response. We will also let you know about events to create a safe space for sharing our experiences and lessons learned. We believe that by working together, we will all be safer.
Crisis Communications Toolkit
Crises are part of the world we live in. The reputational risk associated with a crisis for organizations is intensified by social media and the world of instant communications where everyone is an ‘expert’ and can shape the narrative. The Crisis Communications Toolkit offers guidance for school districts on how to prepare for and respond to cyber incidents.
Developing Strong Policy to Safeguard Information
The Information Security Policy Toolkit supports school districts to develop robust policies and procedures that are critically important to protect valuable data in the event of a cyber incident, and to ensure compliance with industry standards.
The comprehensive toolkit includes 12 separate templates that cover critical security domains. This means school districts can easily and efficiently create customized policies to meet your unique security needs and build a resilient approach to protecting sensitive information.
Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].
Cybersecurity Risk Register Template
Integrating cybersecurity into a school district’s risk management planning is key to successfully protect against cyber threats. The Cybersecurity Risk Register Template will help make this process faster and more efficient – saving time and reducing costs.
The template includes pre-populated sampled data representing the most common cyber risk scenarios, a Risk Register where you can document and track cyber risks, and a virtual heat map that will help to quickly identify high-priority risks that need attention.
Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].
Community & Information Sharing
Collaboration and information sharing are keys to success in cybersecurity. Technology is critically important, but a collective effort is needed to stay ahead of emerging threats.
This section will cover information for cybersecurity specialists and technology leads – to facilitate the sharing of cybersecurity best practices.
Resources
The Being Cyber Secure In K-12 Checklist provides a snapshot of key steps for school districts to proactively build resilient systems that prevent, mitigate, and respond to a cyber incident.
Awareness & Education
This section will support you to develop a culture of cybersecurity within your school district, another important element for success.
It includes resources to empower staff to recognize cybersecurity threats and take steps to mitigate them. When everyone has the opportunity to get on board, we have the best chance to prevent cybersecurity threats and manage them early.
Resources
Fortinet Security Awareness and Training is an education version of the Fortinet Security Awareness and Training Service, made available to the K-12 sector at no-charge.
Prevent & Protect
The best offense is a strong defense. Fortify your school district’s defenses against cyber attacks by taking proactive measures. In this section, you will find information to implement robust security controls, risk assessments, and best practices to enhance your cybersecurity resilience.
Resources
The Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Toolkit is an interconnected series of resources designed to help you implement Multi-Factor Authentication in your Microsoft 365 environment.
Detect & Monitor
Threat monitoring and early detection are crucial to help manage and mitigate the impacts of cybersecurity incidents. This section provides insight into techniques and how to gather threat intelligence. It will also help you stay informed about the latest cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigation strategies to maintain vigilance.
Resources
This Securing Your Microsoft Environments resource was co-created by Focused Education and Steeves and Associates, from the ongoing series of workshops. These workshops have covered Privileged Identity Management and Passkey Authentication, Defender for Identity, Defender for Server, Assessing your Microsoft Security Posture, Intune Mobile Application Management, and Upgrading to Windows 11 - Credential Guard and Wireless Authentication. Please email [email protected] for further information.
Respond & Recover
Despite every effort, your school district is hit by a cyber attack. Swift and timely response will be needed in both your operations and communications.
Preparation and planning in advance are critically important. In this section, we will provide incident response planning, recovery strategies and a crisis communications plan to support minimal disruption and timely restoration of operations.
Resources
The Crisis Communications Toolkit offers guidance for school districts on how to prepare for and respond to cyber incidents.