The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have upset the traditional teaching environment which also makes the educational sector a target for cybercriminals to work on.
While there has been a Facebook leak scandal recently which affected over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries. It raises major concern for the education sector as around 30% of Facebook users are between the ages of 13 and 24 years old. This implies that students are very likely to be the most affected age group due to the Facebook Data Leak. Moreover, Lacking cybersecurity education also makes them very vulnerable in this situation.
Students and youngsters nowadays share tons of personal information on the internet. They don’t care about people getting their sensitive data while also having zero cybersecurity awareness.
This is why attackers find them easier to start with in the first place. The best way to protect students from cyber risks is to educate them regularly. By learning the types of attacks and the security measures can absolutely reduce the chances of being a victim.T
here are many different types of data leakage and it is important for students to understand that the problem can be initiated via an external or internal source. Protective measures need to address all areas to ensure that the most common data leakage threats are prevented. Below are the 5 most common types of data breaches:
Types of Data Breaches
There are many different types of data leakage and it is important for students to understand that the problem can be initiated via an external or internal source. Protective measures need to address all areas to ensure that the most common data leakage threats are prevented. Below are the 5 most common types of data breaches:
Physical security breaches usually happen because of people's mistakes. For example, misplacing a file with sensitive information can become a physical security breach. Besides situations caused by human errors, some physical security breaches happen because of a physical attack initialized by an attacker.
An attacker can physically enter the school building and connect an unauthorized device which allows him to steal data.
How to deal with physical security breaches:
Be extra alert with your devices and storage devices. Laptops should be secured at all times.
Keep it with you or lock it up securely before you step away and make sure it is locked to or in something permanent.
Use extra security measures for portable devices (such as laptop computers) and portable electronic media containing sensitive or critical info:
Encryption, Extra physical security and portable devices with encrypted PII must have strict physical security.
Ransomware is when you suddenly get a message stating that your phone or computer has been hacked.
In this case, the person will tell you that they will turn it over to you and not release it to the public if you pay a fee. This can be anywhere from nominal to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How to deal with Ransomware attacks:
There are a number of defensive steps you can take to prevent ransomware infection.
1) Keep your operating system patched and up-to-date to ensure you have fewer vulnerabilities to exploit.
2) Don't install software or give it administrative privileges unless you know exactly what it is and what it does.
3) Install antivirus software, which detects malicious programs like ransomware as they arrive, and whitelisting software, which prevents unauthorized applications from executing in the first place.
4) Back up your files, frequently and automatically! These actions won't stop a malware attack, but it can make the damage caused by one much less significant.
Phishing attack is a type of social engineering attack often happen in school email boxes to steal user data, such as login credentials and credit card details. Attackers usually pretend to be a staff in school or a professor.
When a user believes that a phishing email is from an official organization, they then would ask for sensitive information such as credit card information, passwords to user’s accounts, etc. This is where their data is breached.
How to deal with phishing attacks:
Be wary of the attachments in an email. Opening an attachment in a phishing email can spread malware. For example, a ransomware can activate locking up your computer and encrypting documents to block access.
Also, you should double check all links before clicking and never give up your personal information unless you’re 100% certain that the request is legitimate.
SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming standard nomenclature used to do set operations to organize and retrieve information in relational databases. Over the last few years, SQL injection attacks have increased significantly in recent years. In a SQLi injection attack, a hacker gains control over a web database in order to tamper with its contents. SQL attacks can make use of vulnerabilities in code at the point where it accesses a database. By hijacking this code, attackers become able to access, modify, and delete secured data.
How to deal with SQL Injection:
You can prevent SQL Injection Attacks by learning some secure coding best practices that include foundational procedures such as:
1) Discover vulnerabilities
2) Repair vulnerabilities
3) Remediate vulnerabilities
4) Mitigate impact By repairing the discovered vulnerabilities, you will be able to prevent SQL Injection Attacks and minimize the possibilities of facing data breaches.
Password breach is one of the most frequent types of data breaches. It works through guessing and stealing passwords of millions of users. There are so many users who believe that a weak password is already enough to protect them from attackers.
Many victims’ passwords have been leaked as they use simple combination for their passwords such as their date of birth, phone numbers, pet names, or nicknames as their password. An attacker nowadays can easily and quickly generate a database of these passwords.
How to deal with Password breaches:
There are quite a lot of useful rules for strong passwords, but here are a list of best advice to make a good password:
1) Make your password long.
2) Make your password a nonsense phrase.
3) Avoid using obvious personal information.
4) Do not reuse passwords
Cyberattacks in schools are getting worse and more difficult to defend. To make sure students stay far away from these attacks, we must keep them educated and well-equipped.
With a comprehensive cybersecurity awareness education provided by schools, the number of cyberattacks will certainly be reduced to a minimum.