K-12 School Incident Response: A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Oh, for the love of all that is holy. Another article telling me schools are pathetically unprepared for cyberattacks? You don’t say. Apparently, these institutions – and by “institutions” I mean budget-strapped, clueless administrations – have “plans” on paper that are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

The gist of it is this: they *think* they’re ready because they’ve got some document gathering dust somewhere. But when the inevitable ransomware hits (and it will hit), it’s chaos. No real testing, no tabletop exercises, no coordinated communication. Just a bunch of panicked people scrambling like headless chickens. They’re relying on insurance payouts instead of actual security measures – brilliant strategy there, geniuses.

The report highlights the absolute necessity for preparedness – shocker! Things like identifying critical assets (data, systems), knowing who to call *before* everything goes down, and having a recovery plan that doesn’t involve wishing really hard. They need to understand their environment, which apparently is asking too much. And don’t even get me started on the lack of funding. They want security on a shoestring budget? Good luck with that.

Basically, it’s a mess. A predictable, infuriating mess. Expect more data breaches, expect more disruptions, and expect taxpayers to foot the bill because someone decided spending money on actual cybersecurity was “unnecessary.”

Source: K-12 School Incident Response Plans Fall Short

And another thing…

I once had to remotely assist a school IT guy who’d locked himself out of the entire network because he tried installing a “free” antivirus program he downloaded from a pop-up ad. Seriously. A pop-up ad. He then proceeded to blame Microsoft for his own stupidity. That’s the level we’re dealing with here, people. Don’t expect miracles.

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