As we went through the Awareness Awareness Week (Privacy Awareness Week), ESET explored how teachers can finally meet this challenge but also how quarantine can radically change the future of education.
During the pandemic, the world changed and a large part of our daily lives is now played online. Education is one of the areas that has been greatly affected by this change: the living rooms of the houses have been turned into classrooms, the kitchens into canteens and the gardens into schoolyards.
And while time management, balancing life between school and home, and maintaining a daily schedule are some of the important issues that education must address, there is an extremely important problem in this story that is less obvious and is called safety. information.
On the occasion of our Privacy Awareness Week, ESET explored how teachers can finally meet this challenge and how quarantine can radically change the future of education.
As distance learning begins to become the "new normal," one long-term concern is how educators and schoolchildren will manage to ensure their privacy and protect their personal data when large amounts of sensitive information – including grades, student performance evaluations and personal data – are now trafficked online.
According to ESET, the three key parameters that will contribute to information security as long as distance learning is established are:
1. End-to-end encryption. In the future it is very likely that much more emphasis will be placed on virtual classrooms. Especially in the higher levels of education, the question so far "is there a reason to do online courses; » may be replaced by "is there a reason for them to be made in person?". In this case, the distance learning will take the central role and now from an alternative it will become the main one. In addition, it will help in better cooperation at school at all levels, not only between teachers but also between students.
However, what we have learned from today's situation is important. The services teleconferences that are – or were initially – less secure will fall by the wayside and be replaced by services that offer end-to-end encryption to prevent unauthorized participants from joining video calls. There will also be a greater emphasis on the means of communication used by teachers and students on a daily or weekly basis to ensure that they are secure and that they protect their privacy.
2. Multi-Factor Identity Check (multifactor authentication). As more and more personal data is stored on remote systems, multifactor authentication will no longer be a luxury and will become a non-negotiable requirement.
This is because when accounts are protected with just one password, they are exposed to many cyber security risks. In the case of education, educational institutions usually provide users with simple user passwords that users often forget to change. This means that malicious agents can easily access the accounts.
When it is not possible to exchange information in person, then the platforms used for this work must meet very high security standards. Therefore, using multi-factor authentication is a way to limit the risk from all kinds of malicious actions (scams, piracy etc.).
3. Enhancing the teaching of cybersecurity in schools. Perhaps, in the end, the biggest change that the quarantine and restrictive measures during the pandemic will bring to education is the strengthening of the teaching of cybersecurity in schools. As teachers and students increasingly rely on technological e.gconditions, the basic steps to safeguard the safety of these resources and those who use them should be an integral part of the school curriculum internationally.
ESET: Even after the quarantine is lifted, the events of this year will not be easily forgotten, nor will the difficulties of the transition to teleworking and distance learning. There is no reason for cyber security teaching to cause fear. For parents with younger children, Safer Kids Online is a reference point for accessible and understandable information. Everyone needs to understand the basic principles of cybersecurity and how to protect themselves and their data online. The best way to do this is to teach cybersecurity at all levels of education.
