Op-Ed: The cyberattack on Los Angeles schools could happen anywhere – and the threat is real
We’re all used to the kind of technology that allows us to live in virtual reality, but there’s something unsettling about the prospect of computers inside our schools.
While most school systems are currently secure, the possibility of a malicious computer network being infiltrated by hackers and used to disrupt school operations is a terrifying prospect.
The problem is that schools have no way of knowing whether a network breach is a result of a hack, or a breach of the school’s own systems.
It’s a major problem because there are some who say a school has to be safe or it can’t operate in a safe manner, while others argue it’s perfectly acceptable to have school systems where some of their systems are controlled by outsiders.
School systems, no matter what their size, always suffer from problems. A system is out of whack and out of sync, a bug has been found and they have to fix it. In our technology world we have so many devices that are constantly connected to each other. That constant connectivity between machines allows data to be passed all the time, but how secure is it?
Are school systems set up to prevent a cyber attack of this magnitude?
We spoke to a leading expert on the subject about this and what to do in an event like this.
It’s the stuff of nightmares, or nightmares, depending on your point of view. It’s the kind of threat that is terrifying to some, the kind of threat that makes people uneasy, but it is a real problem.
The internet is a wonderful thing, and it can help us stay connected to one another. But it’s also a place where many people have access to dangerous information, in order to attack people and steal their money.
We have so many machines in our lives, all connected to each other. If a network were to be breached, a hacker would be able to do that. They would be able to turn a school into an island of terror. What do you do?
It sounds like a nightmare, but what we can do is find out what the school systems and administrators are doing to prevent this from becoming a reality