7 eLearning Tips for Teachers, Parents and Students

As states across the country make the decision to keep physical schools closed and eLearning continues, parents, educators and students should be taking precautions to help ensure their virtual classrooms are just as secure as physical classrooms. According to the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center (K-12 CRC), 2019 had the highest number of cyber-attacks on record, seeing more incidents than the previous two years combined. Now that our own homes have become de facto schools and workspaces, it’s critical to educate, prepare and protect ourselves and our children from online scammers.

Ron Culler, Senior Director of Technology and Solutions at ADT Cybersecurity, shared his top tips for keeping educators and students safe as everyone transitions to learning online. Review that checklist below to see how secure your cyber environment and habits are -- and make sure to share with your family to ensure their online safety, too.

1. Avoid public meetings or classrooms. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private: require a meeting password or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.
2. Be careful where you share links. Don’t share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people.
3. Beware of requests for personal information. Any email that seeks personal information like your Social Security number or login information is a phishing scam. Never respond to the email with your personal data.
4. Check links and email addresses BEFORE clicking. Phishers often create links that closely resemble legitimate addresses. Ensure that assignments and resources are coming from your school, teachers, and other authorized individuals. Pro tip: You can inspect a link by hovering your mouse button over the URL to see where it leads.
5. Watch for spelling and grammatical mistakes. If an email includes spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors, it’s likely a sign you’ve received a phishing email. Delete it!
6. Look for generic greetings. Phishing emails are unlikely to use your name. Greetings like “Dear sir or madam or student” are a signal an email is not legitimate.
7. You don’t have to “Act Now!” Scammers often try to create a sense of urgency or demand immediate action to trick you. The goal is to get you to click on a link and provide personal information quickly.

Learning or teaching from home might be new for many, but it doesn’t have to be scary! Stay smart (and safe) with our tips and check out our entire range of life protection products and services here!

Source:

[1]  https://www.techradar.com/news/schools-are-facing-more-cyberattacks-than-ever-before

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