A post for students in my network security course
To IT leaders in educational institutions, the threat landscape is not theoretical—it is an existential reality. Cyberattacks today are relentless. According to one report, four out of every five organizations experienced at least one successful cyberattack in 2019. For schools, where sensitive student and staff data (Personally Identifiable Information/PII and Protected Health Information/PHI) are stored, successful intrusions can result in devastating reputational harm and availability loss.
Ransomware attacks, in particular, are running rampant, having turned their focus specifically on educational institutions in recent years. The cost of recovery can be immense; by 2021, cybercrime was estimated to cost the world $6 trillion annually. Given these astronomical proportions, the sole focus of cybersecurity cannot be only on prevention; instead, comprehensive plans must be made for when a cybersecurity incident occurs.
This mandate for preparedness falls squarely on the shoulders of IT leaders. Successful incident response (IR) planning is a necessary measure for identifying and counteracting security attacks.
Phase 1: Preparation is Paramount
Incident response is defined by a six-step process: preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. The crucial first step is Preparation—equipping IT staff, management, and users to handle potential incidents.
Crafting the Incident Response Plan (IRP)
The IRP is a set of written instructions for reacting to a security incident. Without this plan, an organization risks being unable to quickly identify the attack, contain its spread, and recover.
Key components of the IRP must include:
- Documented Incident Definitions: Clear descriptions of what constitutes an incident requiring a response.
- Incident Response Teams: These must include not just technical specialists, but also members focused on public relations and managers who can guide executives on appropriate communication.
- Stakeholder Management: Identifying relevant internal stakeholders (operations, legal, finance, HR) who need to be informed and kept updated.
- Communication Plan: Outlining how and when internal and external constituents (like parents, district administrators, or law enforcement) should be informed.
Training and Testing: Building Resilience
Preparation relies heavily on exercises used to test the IRP and make necessary adjustments.
• Tabletop exercises—A monthly, informal, stress-free 30-minute discussion of a scenario. This is valuable for ensuring all administrators understand their roles conceptually.
• Walkthroughs—A review by IT personnel of the plan steps, paying particular attention to the IT systems and services that may be targeted.
• Simulations—A hands-on, realistic exercise to thoroughly test each step of the plan.
These preparations are critical because many cybersecurity incidents stem from foundational weaknesses, such as weak account types and poor access control. IT leaders must prohibit shared accounts, generic accounts, and guest accounts, as these provide threat actors easy ways to pivot and elevate privileges. Access control relies on the AAA framework: Authentication (verifying genuineness, often through credentials), Authorization (granting permission to specific resources), and Accounting (preserving a record of access/audit trail).
Phase 2: Response and Mitigation
Once an incident is Identified (the second phase of IR), the immediate priority is Containment. This means limiting the damage and isolating impacted systems to prevent further spread.
Effective containment hinges on pre-existing secure network design, specifically network segmentation built on the principle of zero trust. Segmentation divides the network into zones (like separating student devices from administrative servers), allowing administrators to configure access controls between those zones. If an attacker successfully breaches one segment, this design restricts access to others.
If segmentation fails, the next step is Isolation, where compromised systems are either disconnected or disabled until the incident is fully resolved.
IT leaders can significantly streamline the response effort by leveraging automation tools, particularly Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms. A SOAR system combines comprehensive data gathering and analytics to automate responses.
• Playbooks—These are linear-style checklists of required steps for responding to specific incident types (e.g., a malware outbreak). Playbooks often document processes reliant on manual tasks.
• Runbooks—These are a series of automated conditional steps used to speed up assessment and containment.
In addition to using SOAR, containment often requires making configuration changes to neutralize the attacker or limit the spread. These changes can target firewall rules, Mobile Device Management (MDM) settings, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) settings, or updating/revoking digital certificates.
Phase 3: Eradication, Recovery, and Lessons Learned
Once containment is achieved, the IT leader moves to Eradication (finding the cause and temporarily removing affected systems) and Recovery (returning systems to normal operation after ensuring no threat remains). This is closely tied to the final steps of Incident Investigation.
Digital Forensics and Data Sources
Investigation is necessary not only for preventing future incidents but also for regulatory compliance reporting. Digital forensics uses technology to search for evidence pertaining to the cybercrime.
When performing forensics, IT staff must follow specific procedures to ensure evidence integrity:
- Secure the Crime Scene: Document physical surroundings, label cables, and take custody of the device and peripherals.
- Preserve the Evidence: This is critical to maintain the integrity of evidence and mitigate nonrepudiation. Follow the order of volatility to preserve the most fragile data first (e.g., RAM/CPU cache before hard drive data).
- Chain of Custody: Maintain a strict, documented record showing the evidence was always under control, ensuring admissibility in a court of law.
The investigation must utilize various data sources:
• Log files—Highly critical are security logs, which reveal the type of attack. Log sources include network-based device logs (firewalls, IDS/IPS), DNS logs (query activity), and Authentication servers (failed login attempts). Tools like syslog, nxlog, and journalctl can help manage the enormous volume and disparate formats of log data.
• SIEM dashboards—Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems consolidate real-time monitoring and analysis of security events, correlating alerts and spotting trends.
• Metadata—Analyzing data describing other data (such as file, web, mobile, and email metadata) can provide clues regarding an attack.
Learning from the Incident
The final step, Lessons Learned, involves completing incident documentation and performing detailed analysis to improve future response efforts and increase security. This post-mortem analysis should inform policy changes based on the strategic intelligence gathered during forensics.
For school IT leaders, this means revisiting the acceptable use policy (AUP), updating mandatory training based on the attack vector (e.g., targeted phishing simulation training), and implementing necessary configuration changes to patch vulnerabilities (firmware, OS, applications). By recognizing that zero-day vulnerabilities (those with no advance warning) and misconfigurations are common entry points, consistent diligence ensures long-term cyber resilience.