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EdTech Show Daily Monday, June 26, 2017 4 AS HACKERS TARGET K-12 NETWORKS, DISTRICTS MUST TURN TO MANAGED SERVICES By Lisa Majdi, Director Segment Marketing Cybercrime against schools is on the rise. According to "2016 Data Breach Investigations Report," education was the sixth most victimized sector last year, outpacing hospitality by 153 percent and retail by 160 percent. Across the country, there are reports of school districts being targeted with ransomware, denial of service attacks and phishing schemes. It is no secret how devastating these attacks can be, but many school districts have yet to take the actions necessary to shore up network vulnerabilities. In many cases, this is not because administrators are not aware of the threat. Budgetary limitations are often a serious impediment when trying to pay for cybersecurity tools. Similarly, schools cannot always justify expanding their IT departments or hiring top talent. As a result, many districts have tried to handle the issues internally, dis- placing personnel to fill a role for which they are not best-suited. But these options have led to the current conditions, and as such, administrators must now turn to managed services to shore up their cybersecurity. Procuring managed servic- es allow schools to offset many of the tra- ditional costs of operating and maintain- ing their network, making this a viable route for resolving security concerns. How else can managed services help to mitigate K-12 districts' exposure to cyberthreats? FULL STEAM AHEAD WITH GENIUS PLAZA "Genius lives in every zip code with access the only barrier," says Ana Roca Castro, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Genius Plaza. As an engineer who has combined her passion for her field with education, she knows firsthand that for students to pursue STEAM careers, they need to see what opportuni- ties exist, and by learning from the pro- fessionals that look like them. Genius Plaza offers access to resources for career profiles from diverse professionals, including lesson plans, animations, video interviews, leveled eBooks in English and Spanish, vocabulary sets, assessment exercises and a 360-degree virtual reality tour of the professional's workspace. Currently, there is a leaky school-to- STEAM career pipeline, especially with- in low-income households and communi- ties of color. Technology allows the team at Genius Plaza and the schools with whom they work to connect students to worlds of possibility for themselves and their futures. Students can learn about career paths from a group of high-profile professionals. Some of these profession- als include a groundbreaking woman engineer at NASA, and a Johnson & Johnson scientist working on can- cer-fighting treat- ments, as well as doctors, software engineers and ven- ture capitalists. Students who can see themselves in these careers are more like- ly to major in a STEAM profession, and believe in their academic success. The Genius Plaza model of search- able, multi-leveled eBooks in math and language arts has been applied to the STEAM career digital library. The latest technological advancements are com- Continued on Page 29 Continued on Page 29 AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH ISTE Kimberly Oser Publisher Jules Denton Senior Associate Publisher Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director JoEllen Lowry • Jeanie Catron • Karrie Welborn Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Art Director Jonathan Schieffer Graphic Designer Caitlyn McGrath • Sarah Glenn • Heather Canale Customer Service Managers Stacy Davis • Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich Show Logistics & Distribution John Pechota Sales Floor Manager Marcos Morhaim Senior Account Manager Adrian Chacon • Rich Mariscal Account Managers Tara Neal Director of Operations Enrico Cecchi European Sales EdTech Show Daily is published by Oser Communications Group ©2017 All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy www.osercommunicationsgroup.com Lee M. Oser Founder