Executive Director of ETS

Click the link to review the Internet Safety presention Internet Safety (Parents) (PDF reader required).

This is a very nice 2 minute video that won a 2nd prize award for Computer Security Awareness (it should have won 1st place).

educ_con_outopen_ipodv

The presentation below which illustrates the features of the 21st Century Classroom was presented to the Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson Technology Council’s monthly meeting on 5/5/2010 at the Embassy Suites in Greenville, SC.

GCSD21stClassroom

Have you recently received an e-mail that looks similar to this?

——————————————————————————–
From:Morrison, Margaret [mailto:morrisonmar@umsl.edu]
Sent: Fri 4/9/2010 7:48 AM
To: info@helpdesk.com
Subject: IT SERVICE HELPDESK

Dear Webmail User,
This message is from webmail messaging center to all
webmail e-mail owners. We are currently upgrading our
data base and e-mail center. We are deleting all unused
webmail e-mail accounts to create space for new ones.
To prevent your account from closing you will have to
update it below so that we will know its an existing
account.
Please Click the link and fill in now:

IF YOU DONT CLICK THIS YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DISABLED TODAY.

CLICK HERE <http://icexxxx.com/Public/ViewForm.aspx?formID=51470>

Thanks
Webmail Administrator
HELP DESK CENTER 2010
IT Helpdesk

Mrs Margaret
———————————————————————————
These types of phishing e-mails are pretty common these days and some are very carefully crafted as to appear legit. So how do you know whether or not these types of e-mails are legit?

First clue, the e-mail was addressed to info@helpdesk.com and not to the person receiving the email. Next clue, the from address is a person that has never sent you an e-mail. Since we don’t know the person that sent the e-mail we can consider this un-solicited e-mail or SPAM. Without even reading the rest of the message we have now determined that this is SPAM and should delete the message.

If you should happen to read the rest of the message you will notice that this person wants you to click on a link and provide your personal webmail account information. First, you should never, ever, click a link within an e-mail message that is un-solicited.  Second, you should never, ever, provide your personal information to anyone for any reason. Especially if they don’t leave a call-back number so you can speak to a real person to determine the reason they want this information and whether it is a legit.

So many people fall victim to this type of attack and then their e-mail is hijacked and used as a SPAMMING tool compounding the issue. Follow these simple steps to avoid becoming a victim:

1. Un-solicited e-mail from an unknown source — DELETE IT
2. Un-solicited e-mail requesting personal information — DELETE IT
3. When in doubt regarding the legitimacy of an e-mail requesting personal information — DELETE IT
4. Any un-solicited e-mail requesting you to click on a link or view an attachment — DELETE IT

Last year the K12 E-rate Committee implemented a new process which requires that all schools and libraries undergo a comprehensive security review before any bandwidth or network changes are authorized by the committee. This analysis will be conducted by the South Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center (SC-ISAC). and will determine the district’s network utilization efficiency and security posture.

After several months of analyzing the GCSD network and all of the security measures in place, the SC-ISAC awarded GCSD a grade of A. The full text of the report is available by clicking on the link below:

http://bilbrown.blog.greenville.k12.sc.us/files/2010/04/SecScoreCard0210.pdf

Introduction

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was signed into law on December 21, 2000. In order to receive discounts for Internet Access and Internal Connections services under the universal services support mechanism, school and library authorities must certify that they are enforcing a policy of Internet safety that includes measures to block or filter Internet access for both minors and adults to certain visual depictions. The relevant authority with responsibility for administration of the E-rate eligible school or library must certify the status of its compliance for the purpose of CIPA in order to receive E-rate discounts.

What CIPA Requires

Schools and libraries subject to CIPA may not receive the discounts offered by the E-rate program unless they certify that they have an Internet safety policy that includes technology protection measures. The protection measures must block or filter Internet access to pictures that are: (a) obscene, (b) child pornography, or (c) harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors). Before adopting this Internet safety policy, schools and libraries must provide reasonable notice and hold at least one public hearing or meeting to address the proposal.

Schools subject to CIPA are required to adopt and enforce a policy to monitor online activities of minors.

Schools and libraries subject to CIPA are required to adopt and implement an Internet safety policy addressing: (a) access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet; (b) the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications; (c) unauthorized access, including so-called “hacking,” and other unlawful activities by minors online; (d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and (e) measures restricting minors’ access to materials harmful to them.

What does E-rate Pay for?

The discounts that Greenville County School District obtains from the E-rate program range from 67-80% on all telecommunication services, Internet and internal connections, and equipment. These discounts amount to over 1.5 million dollars annually.

So Why is the Website Blocked?

The Internet is changing every minute, the last survey contacted in March 2010 received responses from 206,675,938 web sites with an average increase each year of 750,000 new websites. A recent report indicates that 260 pornographic web sites are added daily. If a web site contains any material that violates CIPA the district is required to block that site from viewing by both adults and students.

With over a year in development the final draft of the Greenville County Schools 2010-2014 Strategic Technology Plan has been completed. This plan contains all sections required by NCLB and E-Rate and is the most comphrensive plan to-date including a section specifically addressing Security.

The plan is available in PDF format by clicking the following link:

http://bilbrown.blog.greenville.k12.sc.us/files/2010/03/2010-2014-GCS-Tech-Plan-Draft-FinalDraft.pdf

We have also created a brief PowerPoint presentation (in PDF format) that briefly discusses key points in the plan. The PowerPoint presentation is available by clicking the following link:

http://bilbrown.blog.greenville.k12.sc.us/files/2010/03/TechPlan-PlanningSession.pdf

Please post a comment if you have any comments or suggestions regarding the technology plan. The final version must be submitted to the State Department of Education by 6/30/2010.