Cybersecurity Update
By Michael Marassa
Chief Technology Officer
New Trier Township 203
John Connolly
Chief Technology Officer
Consolidated High School District 230
Phil Morris
Director of Technology & Operations
Kane County Regional Office of Education
Rod Russeau
Director of Technology & Information Services
Downers Grove 93
Anthony Schlorff
Director of Technology Services
Township District 214
Cybersecurity has quickly grown as a primary responsibility for every school district technology leader within the past three years. Simultaneously, cyber liability insurance premiums for districts are increasing at an extreme rate, with the sense that insurers may move out of this marketplace. None of this is a surprise. From July 2021 through June 2022, a report from security services leader Crowdstrike indicated “a record 50 percent year-over-year (YoY) increase of hands-on intrusion attempts” (CrowdStrike’s Annual Threat Hunting Report, September 13, 2022). This same report indicated that a potential intrusion attempt occurs every seven minutes and that within 30 minutes the cyber attacker can be moving laterally within your network. The top industries targeted in what is now being termed “eCrime” were “technology (19 percent), telecommunications (10 percent), manufacturing (7 percent), academic (7 percent) and healthcare (7 percent).” Finally, the article points out that the primary method for breaching computer systems is through acquisition of existing staff login and passwords.