We are living in an era where teachers' and students' dependency on online education has increased. It can be very easy or stressful for some educators. Our lives have become very dependent on the internet. We pay bills, recharges, buy our clothes, grocery, transact money online, we even consult our doctors online. With the advent of the pandemic, we have learned to do almost everything online in order to decrease unnecessary human interaction and stay safe. Thus, staying updated, informed, and learning the best practices to protect ourselves and our students are always the best first step to take in cybersecurity.


According to a report, Microsoft’s Global Threat Activity Tracker detected more than 8 million malware incidents from July to August 2020, in which education was the most affected industry. As a result of the recent rush to adopt e-learning, the field has been exposed to an increase in cyberattacks; cybercriminals are finding opportunities to defraud schools, steal sensitive information, or deploy ransomware schemes to extort money. In September 2020, a public service announcement by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre recently warned that attackers are taking advantage of the transition to online learning due to COVID-19 through increased targeting of virtual environments, including those utilized by schools.


It is important to know about the strengthening cybersecurity defense to deal with attackers in two ways:

1. Cybersecurity in school
2. Cybersecurity for students

Schools are packed with valuable, confidential, and sensitive information. As more digital tools are brought into the classroom and integrated into school administration, more of that information becomes vulnerable to cyber threats. Therefore, cybersecurity should not be limited to the classroom or schools.

Cyber Threats For Teachers

• Phishing: A new study finds that nearly 90% of colleges and universities are putting students, alumni, and faculty at risk by not providing protection from email phishing, spoofing, and forgery schemes. As a result, institutes of higher education have become a hunting ground for cyber attackers using phishing scams.
• Distributed Denial-Of-Service (DDOS): A distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.
• Data Breach: A data breach is an incident where information is stolen or taken from a system without the knowledge or authorization of the system’s owner. In a report publicly released in October 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) counted 99 school data breaches over the past four years, from July 2016 to May 2020, that compromised the personal information of thousands of students in kindergarten through high school.
• Ransomware: Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts a victim's files. The attacker then demands a ransom from the victim to restore access to the data upon payment. Users are shown instructions for how to pay a fee to get the decryption key. According to a report from the cybersecurity firm Emisof, the potential cost of ransomware in the United States reached over $7.5 billion in 2019.
• IoT devices: IoT (Internet of Things) devices like Laptops, Smart mobile phones, Tablets, etc. often lack security or are not updated on a regular basis, making it vital for teachers to prioritize security when incorporating IoT devices into the classroom.

Cybersecurity Tips for Teachers

• Secure your social media
• Use apps, tools, and websites that encrypt data
• Have a recovery plan
• Use strong and unique passwords
• Be vigilant regarding phishing scams
• Know the terms and conditions
• Don't share personal information
• Update apps and device operating systems

Malicious websites and apps can jeopardize student's devices and data. These sites can affect their device and data in many ways. Like, when they visit any unknown sites or clicks on any fake link, these can steal information. Such as account information, project works, identity detail, etc. They may contain sexual content, nudity, violence, brutal content. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of these attackers.

Cybersecurity Tips for students

• Keep your device and app updated
• Maintain (secure) backups of important files or databases
• Use secured Wi-Fi sources only
• Don’t reveal personal or financial information in an email, SMS, WhatsApp, or call, etc.
• Think once before clicking any suspicious website’s URL
• Keep an eye on browsing cookies
• Keep manual setting of the browser
• Always delete browsing history
• Do not click on any type of advertisement

As cyber attackers are continuously spreading worldwide, social media is one of the easiest ways to trap anyone. Not only teachers but students are also the most common targets of them. Therefore, we must be aware and keep secure our database by having strong passwords. However, we use normal antivirus to protect our devices but we should use genuine antivirus which can protect our devices and database with high security.