COSN 2017 Survey on Cyber Security

CoSN, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, found that it longer needs to ask survey respondents if they are “familiar with CoSN.” However, according to the report, not all changes are positive, and solving one problem can create another. As districts have transitioned to digital environments, concerns have increased regarding data privacy and data security. A low ranking priority in the early survey results, Cyber Security is now one of the top concerns for IT Leaders. IT Leaders also contend with persistent issues that are unrelated to their digital ecosystem. Five years of survey results show that budgets and department silos consistently pose problems for them. The report also states how broader issues, such as racial diversity, and lower priorities, like revising acceptable use policies, still require attention.

CoSN (2017). K-12 IT leadership survey report. Washington, D. C.: CoSN. https://cosn.org/sites/default/files/CoSN_ITLdrship_Report_2017_040317.pdf

Status of Technology in Education

The CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) has released the findings from its 2018 K-12 IT Leadership Survey Report. The results show that school leaders place a high priority on cyber security and broadband/network capacity. Also, continuing the trend of previous years, budget constraints remain a top challenge for school technology leaders. The annual national survey provides the education community with insights from school system technology leaders on their challenges and priorities. This survey report provides valuable information for CoSN, IT Leaders, school districts and the organizations that serve and support those districts.

COSN. COSN 2018 K-12 IT leadership survey report. Washington, D.C.: COSN. https://cosn.org/sites/default/files/final%20IT%20Leadership%202018.pdf

Cyber Security Awareness Improvements

According to a study by Wombat Security Technologies, technology users today are more likely to recognize a phishing attack than they were a year ago. Across all of the industries the participants were from, they overall performed better this year on questions around identifying phishing attacks, answering incorrectly only a quarter of the time on average, compared to a little over a quarter in 2016. This report offers an opportunity for organizations to assess their end users’ cybersecurity knowledge and evaluate how proactive they are being on the security awareness training front.

Wombat Security Technologies (2017). Wombat Security’s 2017 beyond the phish report. Pittsburgh, PA: Wombat Security Technologies. https://info.wombatsecurity.com/hubfs/2017%20Beyond%20the%20Phish%20Report/Wombat_BeyondthePhish17_FINAL.pdf?submissionGuid=eab8dae3-5e19-45ea-a59c-7c26151aa461