This article discusses the adaptations that educational institutions are having to deal with in terms of cybersecurity of remote classrooms. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, academic institutions were able to rely less on the internet as the primary means of teaching and communication, while currently, schools now rely on services like Zoom in order to teach, which has increased cybersecurity risks. Over summer 2020, average weekly cyber attacks rose by 30%. The author identifies multiple reasons for this, particularly the lack of a “culture of security” in academic institutions. The author also identifies a general misunderstanding or non-understanding of the new risks faced by teachers when trying to work remotely, leading to the spread of malware, oftentimes ransomware in particular. The article also discusses FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which requires schools to secure the data relating to private information of its students. Schools face a unique challenge in this aspect, as they are required to ensure the privacy of their students before adapting new technologies, which makes adapting to the pandemic much more difficult.
