HCPS Director of Technology talks cyberattack prevention – WHSV

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – At K-12 schools across the United States, loads of data are stored in online systems, and that means there is always potential or hackers to get that information.
Kevin Perkins is in his first year as Director of Technology for Harrisonburg City Public Schools and says in recent years, cybercriminals have gotten more creative with their attack methods.
“Email isn’t the only attack vector the bad guys use. So for example it could be an email, it could be via an email, it could be via a text message, or it could be via social media accounts,” Perkins explained.
A heavy focus for faculty and student cyber-security training is the identification of ‘phishing’ emails, which hackers often use to access systems through a clickable link.
Perkins says being proactive and educating students and staff on being diligent both at school and at home is key to keeping information safe.
“Being proactive two different ways: Making sure we have resources on our network to identify things or traffic that we don’t want coming through. And then just raising the overall awareness of people, so that we’ve got lots of eyes looking for those types of things,” Perkins said.
In the case HCPS staff or students encounter a suspicious link or online information of any kind, Perkins said Technology staff are always available and encourage individuals to immediately notify them so they may resolve the issue.
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