Staff Newsletter: November 2020

So 2020…

It’s impossible to review what has been done the last few months without mentioning the elephant in the room: Covid-19. It is still our new normal and we’ve had to adapt so quickly and there has been so many changes that it’s easy to lose sight of it all. This is one of the reasons that prompted this newsletter. In IT, the urgency of the situation has forced us to manage changes and fixes much faster than we usually do, either because it had to be done for “yesterday” or because we needed to move on to the next big Covid related thing quickly to make sure the school could remain opened and as safe as it could be. Karl and I are fully aware that doing things with such haste, can be detrimental to you all and it is a constant struggle to get the balance (if any) right. We both feel very lucky to have such a supportive and understanding team during this pandemic. Nobody has bitten our head off yet and we are very appreciative of that. 🙂

The first Lockdown – Part 1: The risks when working from home

With employees having to work remotely, impersonation fraud, phishing attacks, virus attacks and ransomware attacks have seen a sharp increase.

But this is changing. On Youtube and Reddit, many home owners concerned about security are slowly becoming a “network enthusiast” and turning to enterprise grade security. This is a sign of the times, but without becoming a security expert, there is a lot you can do!

Websites:

• https://haveibeenpwned.com/
• How  to look your best on a video call: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/8/21202907/zoom-tips-video-call-lighting-audio-look-your-best

The first Lockdown – Part 2 : Phishing and MFA

The rule of thumb is to be extremely careful when providing your credentials (if you are already logged in in Office 365 and in Azure information protection, be suspicious if you get asked credentials again) and if you believe you have provided your credentials to a hacker, then change your password ASAP and contact IT.

One way to prevent attackers from using illegally obtained credentials was to use Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) that required an additional check on top of your password. This change was widely recommended by security agencies and by our DPO, Judicium.

In fact, you shouldn’t just use MFA for work. Use it everywhere, especially shopping/banking websites (eBay, Amazon, Paypal…) or anything else with sensitive data (Facebook, twitter…).

Do not use the same passwords between accounts. If one set of credentials gets compromised, usually hackers will then try these credentials on the most common websites.
Do not re-use passwords. if your account was once compromised, this password will be known to hackers. Don’t assume your accounts have never been compromised. Companies don’t usually advertise when they’ve been hacked and major companies got in trouble for keeping it a secret. The website to check if your accounts were compromised is https://haveibeenpwned.com/
As always, make your password hard to guess. The school still recommends 8 characters minimum (with letters, numbers, upper case, lower case and special characters) but security experts seem to believe 12 should now be the recommended minimum number of characters. 

Securing classroom displays

The basic rule is: avoid mirroring your screen as you might accidentally show confidential emails or sensitive data on Arbor.

Laptops for Teachers and remote parents evenings

With parents’ evening going online and teachers having to travel between bubbles, the school decided to provide laptops to all teaching staff.

If somehow you didn’t get one yet, please talk to us.

If you are a new teachers starting in NKS, come to IT and ask if we still have some stock! 🙂

New Staff Rooms

Of course, with so many of you not having a base to call home, we had to create some spaces. B01 temporarily became a staff room but then reverted back to a classroom. The caretakers refurbished D03 (you can access it from the canteen) and B24 also became a staff room. We now have a total of 4 staff rooms. All of them but S09 have computers. Wi-Fi is available in all 4 rooms. See the map below.

Note (2022): D03, now P03, is not a staff room anymore. Same for B24, now repro.

Templates were created for each rooms.
If a template is incorrect or if you have suggestions, please contact IT.

Microsoft Teams

A lot of work has been done in the background for Teams but none better than the training materials created by our Microsoft Expert Extraordinaire, Matt Gowen. If you haven’t yet, check them out here: http://bit.ly/NKSStaffGuides

Conclusion:

Like I said, it is easy to lose track of it all, but when you start listing all these changes, it becomes evident there were many IT changes impacting your day to day life on top of everything else you have to deal with. Change is always challenging and usually requires careful planning and implementation, but time was of the essence and lives – not something I thought I would ever say – were in the balance, so we ended up with a lot of changes in one year.

I started this newsletter in November. America had just celebrated Thanksgiving and said what they were grateful for… It’s now December but let’s!
I can’t emphasize enough how grateful Karl and I are to see everyone getting on board every time we take IT in a new direction and for all your patience and kindness working with us on these urgent projects even though you are all super busy with the implementation of a million new Covid rules. So yes, Kudos to you all, you’ve been amazing.