Barrington 220 Cybersecurity in 2020

With the start of the new year, let’s rethink how we tackle our email inbox each day. Ever greater caution is needed as email messaging is now the number one method for cyber intruders to gain access to secure data found on computers and network data servers. A well meaning computer user clicking on the wrong link or downloading the wrong file contained within an email message may find that they just became a victim of cybercrime—which could lead to all of their computer files being rendered useless. If their computer also had access to network servers, those server files could also all be rendered useless.

In 2019, the Rockford (IL) school district was one of a reported 72 school districts, which included over 1,000 schools, that found themselves in just such a predicament. The start of the school year in Rockford began with a limited telephone system, limited access to student records, and limited to no access to other systems and files. It was described by someone familiar with the situation as “back to pencil and paper” for grades and attendance. The school district spent months getting their computers and systems back on track. The Sycamore, IL, school district was hit with a similar event in November 2019.

Please be careful with all email messages that you receive, both with your Barrington 220 email account as well as with your personal email accounts. Before clicking on any links or files within an email message or responding to the message, ask yourself a few questions:

• Is this message truly from someone I know? 
• Does the sender address appear to be correct? In many email browsers or web pages, hovering the mouse over the sender field of the message will show a complete email address. Some browsers have a button or arrow to click on for more details. 
• Does this sender information look correct? Close does not count! An example of one such fake email address is support@rnicrosoft.com. Notice that the “m” in microsoft is not actually what it appears to be at first glance. It is actually composed of the letters r and n.
• Were you expecting the email message? The decision to act on the message is a bit easier if you were expecting the message. 
• Did the message arrive at an odd time? Most of your colleagues are not sending messages at 1:00 AM. However, threat actors in other countries are having lunch at this time. 
• Does the message convey a sense of urgency? This trick is often used to get the recipient to act quickly and without as much forethought. 

Here in Barrington 220, we have taken great strides to protect networks and computing devices, but we cannot do this alone. We need every user's due diligence in protecting computers and data systems from breaches. Use strong passwords and do not share passwords. Do not leave your computing devices turned on and unattended.

Be careful with your email messages!