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Safety and security for both students and adults are always a top priority for our district. This includes digital safety and cybersecurity. Scammers are especially active now that we are in tax-filing season. Please follow the practices below to help protect yourself, and our students, from these types of scams.
The following are actions you can take:
- Password Best Practices
Use long and unique passwords for access to your school, work, and/or personal accounts. Consider using a memorable phrase. DO NOT use the same passwords for school, work, and/or personal accounts. Use a unique password for each website and change your passwords at least every six months. Consider a password manager for managing personal passwords. Enable multifactor authentication (MFA) whenever available.
- Think Before You Click
Remember not to open or follow links in text messages from unknown persons or from “official” looking text messages claiming one of your accounts has been hacked or asking for confirmation for recent purchases.
Spam and phishing attacks also happen by email. SBISD Technology Services uses a Spam Filter that holds suspicious emails outside the district’s network in quarantine to help prevent malicious email messages from being delivered to Outlook mailboxes on the district’s network. Employees receive an email when they have messages that have been quarantined by the spam filter. Sometimes, legitimate emails are held in email quarantine because the email may contain a link to a website outside the district’s network such as a Google Drive share notification. This is why it’s important to check your spam filter daily. If you received an email or clicked an unknown site asking you to log in, it may be an attempt to steal your credentials. SBISD Technology Services will never request your password or ask you to verify your account through email, phone calls, or text. Forward any suspicious emails to spam@springbranchisd.com.
- TikTok Use
Many federal and state agencies, including SBISD, have banned TikTok from government-issued devices due to the amount of data harvesting. Based on recommendations from the Texas Department of Information Resources, we are recommending that staff also remove TikTok from personal devices if they are used to check SBISD email. By following this recommendation, we are ensuring we are protecting our most valuable information.
- Always Run Updates
Don’t cancel any updates your device may run and plan for updates to run when you first start your device upon return from Spring Break. As a reminder, the Technology Services team is keeping your system safe by releasing updates for district devices. Please do not cancel updates. We recommend that students and staff turn off their district devices at the end of each day which helps ensure it is functioning as expected. Server updates and changes are made on Wednesday and Friday evenings between 5:30 pm – 5:30 am.
To learn more about cyber safety, register here to attend the upcoming Parent U: Keeping your Child Safe in the Online World on April 4, 6-7 pm via Zoom. This session, held in partnership with Crime Stoppers of Houston, is open to staff, parents, and students of all grade levels. |
