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Board hears threat-assessment update; district describes cyber defenses and recent incident response
Summary
Administrators reported a recent threat-assessment review of a school safety incident, work on COPS grant access-control projects, and regular cybersecurity monitoring and phishing campaigns; technology staff said the district receives external vulnerability reports and will run staff phishing simulations.
Administrators and district technology staff updated the board on safety and cybersecurity work after a threat assessment at one school.
Associate Superintendent Luis Alvarez described the district's threat-assessment debrief following an incident that prompted a review of actions taken and contacts made. Alvarez said the district's review aims to ensure all processes were followed and any gaps addressed; principals will share appropriate information with students and staff about reporting concerns.
Alvarez and technology staff described efforts on physical access-control improvements tied to a COPS grant application, and Thornton Potts (technology staff member) briefed the board on cybersecurity monitoring tools. Potts said the district receives external vulnerability reports from a state-provided service and from a vendor called Securing (via the state cybersecurity office) that scans the district's external attack surface and identifies vulnerabilities.
Potts said the district also monitors phishing and account-compromise risk, resets passwords and uses endpoint protections (referenced generically as security software) to reduce ransomware risk. He said the district recently received state cyber-grant funding to run phishing-awareness campaigns with a vendor (Novo 4) and that the district performs simulated phishing tests to educate staff.
Superintendent Hawkins and Alvarez emphasized the limits of defenses and the importance of community awareness: administrative, custodial and instructional staff must remain vigilant and report suspicious activity. The district said it had previously responded to a potential ransomware threat in July by taking urgent technical actions to protect systems.
No board action was taken; administrators said they are continuing implementation of access-control, threat-assessment and cybersecurity measures and will report back as projects advance.
