New Cybersecurity Protocols in the Works for Barrington 220 Staff

As Barrington 220 staff members, we are aware of the importance of selecting and managing passwords in the many accounts we use in both our professional and personal lives. Those of us in tech leadership roles have been explaining, recommending—and sometimes imposing—password and/or passphrase guidelines for technology systems. 

For the past few years, you may have also been asked by certain systems to set up the industry's latest security feature known by several names including "two-factor verification," "two-factor authentication," or "multi-factor authentication." These various names are all versions of the same idea.

Systems that use multi-factor authentication (MFA) require two or more methods for a user to access a system, usually consisting of something you know (i.e., a password) and something you have (i.e., a device or app different from the one you are using to access a system).

As cybersecurity breaches continue to affect school districts, our district's insurance carriers are now imposing  multi-factor authentication security requirements on Barrington 220 and other school districts. The Tech Team is working on a new system that will add multi-factor authentication and other benefits to our overall security and access.

Stay tuned for further information in the next few months about this important security topic and instructions for setting up multi-factor authentication in Barrington 220.