Security Tips for Teachers and Students in Video Conferencing and Remote Learning
Cybersecurity has always been an issue in education, but it has become more worrying since the shift to remote learning. For all the promise and innovation that virtual learning presents, it has made students, teachers, and school administrations less secure.
For students looking for an essay helper online to assist them with their schoolwork, keeping their personal information safe is a coin toss, dependent on the reputation of the paper writing service they are going to use.
If you want to keep your online learning and video conferencing safe, here are some security tips you should bear in mind.
Use Secure Passwords
Always make your passwords safe and long. Instead of opting for simple password combinations, try to diversify them with symbols and special characters.
Sometimes, password generators will suggest strong passwords for you. If you don’t want to follow the suggestion, create a more secure password and store it in a protected wallet. And no matter what, don’t use the same passcode for every platform because once a hacker guesses it, they will have access to your entire online presence.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Your password might not be enough protection against highly-motivated and experienced hackers. That’s why you need multi-factor authentication to protect your video-conferencing sessions from unauthorized access. Use your secure phone number or email address to receive verification codes, and don’t share them with any other person.
Check Screens and Tabs Before Sharing
Teachers and students often share their screens during Zoom calls. However, this harmless act can endanger your online safety. Not to mention, you wouldn’t want your teacher to see that you want to buy an essay from a professional essay service rather than write it yourself.
Before sharing your screen, always close all tabs containing sensitive information because people can extract pieces of data to re-create your profile. Besides, you never know what information you expose unwittingly.
Some video conferencing tools allow you to share only specific windows instead of your entire screen. Use this feature to limit the materials other participants can see on your device.
Set Permissions
Anybody can join your Zoom meeting if they have the link, but you can use permissions to regulate and vet the participants you let in.
Why set permissions for video conferences?
Firstly, these permissions limit the number of individuals joining the conference to only invited participants. Secondly, password-protected links allow teachers to vet incoming participants before letting them into the lesson. And most importantly, you can monitor every participant and verify their identity.
Hide Your Location with Virtual Backgrounds
Skype offers multiple background features for video calls. Zoom users can blur their backgrounds during meetings.
If you don’t want the call participants to see your surroundings, use virtual backgrounds to mask it. Teachers can also blur out their backdrops if they have boards, lesson notes, and sensitive information which they don’t want the students to see. By doing so, you will avoid handing your data to criminals on a platter.
Don’t Follow Unidentified Links
Phishing attacks have become more rampant, with over 60% of academic institutions experiencing at least one attack since the start of the pandemic.
To protect yourself and the school from phishing and ransomware attacks, don’t click on unidentified links. In fact, don’t click on any link even if your classmate posts it in the chat. Otherwise, hackers can inject malicious software into your system to steal your information.
Don’t Record the Screen Without Prior Notice
Sometimes, a teacher or student might want to record the class for different purposes. Regardless of your reason, always notify the online class beforehand.
Why is screen-recording a potential security threat?
For starters, not everybody wants their face to appear on the call. Also, some people might want to obscure identifying features in their background before the recording starts. And most importantly, warning people before recording them is common courtesy.
Download Antivirus Software
Even if you have the tightest policies for sharing files, one moment of indiscretion from a student can expose everybody to security threats. In these unfortunate cases, the antivirus software can act as a firewall to repel the attack or alert you before it causes irreparable harm.
Antivirus software like McAfee and Avast can help you repel and detect these attacks. Download and install them before you start using video conferencing tools.
Don’t Connect to Open Networks
We all love free WiFi, especially in public spaces. But unknown to most people, these free hotspots are honeypots to gain access to connected devices. Even if the coffee shop or public library offers free WiFi, try to avoid it as much as possible.
Alternatively, you can carry your personal modem or join the video conference using your mobile network.
Have a Recovery Plan
The reality of cyber attacks is that they can be inevitable sometimes. Hackers with motivation and unlimited resources can get past all the firewalls, security protocols, passwords, and verification. And sometimes, you might lose important files after a hack.
To avoid the headache of starting from scratch, back up all files in the cloud or local storage periodically — this should be your recovery plan.
Conclusion
Safety is a pertinent issue in online education due to several potential loopholes and flaws in the system. To protect your systems from attacks, use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication. Don’t forget to mask your location when presenting or sharing your screen. And most importantly, create a plan to recover lost data after a cyber attack.
