Across the country, the coronavirus pandemic thrust schools, students and teachers into remote learning situations which they were not fully prepared for. Major upheavals that would have usually taken months or years to implement were put in place practically overnight. Administrators, teachers and students were suddenly required to transition to virtual class settings and familiarize themselves with online learning applications like Zoom, Class Dojo and Canvas. With this switch, the threat of ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks began to loom.
While these technologies surely helped flatten the pandemic curve by keeping people at home, they have also revealed glaring vulnerabilities at educational institutions nationwide. Since this spring schools have faced a number of speed-bumps and challenges as they’ve attempted to ensure student access and connectivity, and some alarming new studies show that students may be falling behind as a result. On top of it all, another pressing issue that schools face due to widespread remote learning is the evolving threat of cybersecurity attacks like ransomware.
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