Time to Refocus on School Security- Back to Basics

Over the past year, we have been thrust into an environment where personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and social distancing have overwhelmingly eclipsed traditional pre-COVID-19 security measures. Prior to the pandemic, schools were enhancing physical security on a trajectory that was driven by incidents of school violence and the need to not only make our schools safe, but more importantly make our children and parents feel safe when entering our buildings or sending kids off to school for the day.

Emergency Preparedness: A Continuous Process

Whether the subject of your emergency preparedness efforts focus on schools, businesses, houses of worship, health care facilities or any other organization, planning for emergencies is a continuous process. Many organizations establish Emergency Operations Plans (EOP’s) or implement written response protocols to fulfill regulatory requirements or comply with laws related to their industry. While this is a necessary and worthwhile endeavor, far too many organizations rarely, if ever, revisit these plans to ensure that they are kept current and evolve with the ever changing threat environment that we live in.

Emergency Planning for Students with Disabilities

The state’s administrators, teachers, and aides find themselves in new and unchartered territory trying to navigate an entirely remote learning environment. Basic educational strategies that assume a face-to-face environment are now unavailable, and teachers are using new technology and products with which they had little, if any, prior experience.

Finding Vulnerabilities is a Good Thing

No matter how cautious a company is in designing and defending its information security systems, there is always the potential for data breaches and cybersecurity incidents. One method to find these vulnerabilities before a threat actor does is to test your security using some of the same techniques that criminals do, first. Penetration tests cause no actual damage if conducted by a reputable professional, and can be a vital tool for understanding a particular weakness in more than Information Technology systems.