Cyber Security Awareness

What steps can I take in my classroom to protect cybersecurity?

These basic steps apply to everyone:

• Start with the passwords that you and your students use. Are they complex? Middle and High School students should be reminded  to change  their passwords frequently. 

• Think about personally identifiable information. This includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and any other information that would allow a stranger to know exactly who you are. Be mindful of sharing this information: When, where, and why are you inputting your own information or student data?

• Make it a classroom rule to "pause and think" while online. Never click on a suspicious link or pop-up window. This also applies to QR codes—don't scan any that look suspicious. These can easily contain malware and viruses.

Just like you need a unique ticket for each movie you attend, you should also have a unique password for all your online accounts. Don’t reuse the same password across websites. If one of those sites gets compromised, hackers will also try that password on other sites. No matter the account, all passwords should be created with these three words in mind:

● Long — At least 12 characters

● Unique — Never reuse passwords. Each account needs its own unique password

● Complex — Use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. Some websites will even let you include spaces.

Thank you for removing our organization from the hackers’ cast list.

Fitchburg IT Team

Lights. Camera. Hack-tion

The reviews are in: phishing is popular among hackers and can be catastrophic for organizations. Phishing makes up 44% of social engineering incidents, and 98% of phishing incidents are via email. But it isn’t enough to simply know that phishing emails are out there; you also need to be able to recognize and report them. Let’s preview some of the scripts used by hackers in their big heists this year:

●     Emails that contain an offer that’s too good to be true

●     Language that’s urgent, alarming, or threatening

●     Poorly-crafted writing with misspellings and bad grammar

●     Greetings that are ambiguous or very generic

●     Requests to send personal information

●     Urgency to click on unfamiliar hyperlinks or attachment

●     Strange or abrupt corporate communications

●     Sending e-mail address doesn’t match the company it’s coming from

If you suspect an email is phishing, it’s best to report it using our FPS Help Desk or contacting walkern@fitchburg.k12.ma.us

Thank you for keeping our organization off the cybercriminals leaderboard.

FPS IT Team

In today's digital age, cybersecurity is more important than ever before. With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread, it is essential that we all understand the importance of protecting ourselves and our organization from potential security breaches.

To help raise awareness and educate ourselves on cybersecurity, we would like to invite you to watch some short videos and read a few infographics on the topic.  This is a 3-week program with an estimated time to view the resources at about 5-10 minutes per week. We believe these resources will be valuable for all staff members, regardless of your role or level of expertise. They are also a great opportunity to refresh your knowledge and stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity trends and best practices.