K12 Tech Talk

Episode 196 - Sharing Passwords? You're Fired!

In this episode, we explore humorous/serious use of AI joke writing (PowerSchool jokes), we have a discussion on cell phone bans being implemented across various school districts this new year, touching on one policy that involves fines.
The main focus, however, is a captivating story where a teacher was terminated for allegedly sharing her password, leading to students tampering with electronic records and facing charges. We tackle tough questions about accountability: Should a teacher lose their job for password sharing? Are students facing reasonable repercussions? Who bears the blame in cases of security breaches like this? We discuss the essential measures for cybersecurity in schools, emphasizing the necessity of multi-layered security approaches.
https://www.al.com/news/2025/01/alabama-could-soon-fine-students-who-repeatedly-violate-classroom-cell-phone-restrictions.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-13/lausd-strict-school-cellphone-ban-to-begin
https://www.koin.com/news/portland/pps-bans-cell-phones-adopts-off-and-away-all-day-policy/
https://www.wistv.com/2025/01/07/cell-phone-ban-begins-south-carolina-schools/
https://www.comparitech.com/news/ransomware-roundup-2024-end-of-year-report/#The_top_5_biggest_ransom_demands_in_2024
https://www.yahoo.com/news/liverpool-high-school-staff-member-215453485.html
00:00-Introduction04:53-Cell Phone Bans!18:36-2024 State of Ransomware23:05-Teacher fired for sharing her password38:29-Reducing the risk of shared passwords46:39-Closing and more AI jokes
--------------------
NTP
Lightspeed
Lumu
ClassLink
Fortinet
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
OR info@k12techtalkpodcast.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

PowerSchool Cybersecurity Breach: What You Need to Know

This special episode of the K12 Tech Talk Podcast dissects the recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, a major provider of Student Information Systems (SIS) in the United States. Hosts Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the details of the breach that saw PowerSchool send notifications to its customers about the possibility of sensitive data exposure.
We discuss the details of the breach that have been released by PowerSchool and discussed by customers on K12TechPro and Reddit (/k12sysadmin) within the first 24 hours.
 
00:00-Introduction
01:04-What happened?
04:10-Who is PowerSchool?
7:30-Data Exfiltration
11:48-How the attack happened
18:54-The attackers were paid to destroy the data
22:41-What should districts do right now?
 
For more information, check out K12TechPro where you can find a special section on the PowerSchool breach with resources you need, including sample letters to families, instructions to download your system logs, and relevant news articles.
https://community.k12techpro.com
Questions, comments? Reach out to us! info@k12techtalk.com

A Ransomware Interview with Denzel (Episode 31 Re-release)

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from Josh, Chris, and Mark!
 
This is a re-release of Episode 31. It is an interview with Denzel. Denzel is the Tech Director at a school that was hit with ransomware. He shares details of the attack, from waking up and realizing over his morning coffee that they had major issues, to the day he realized the "bad guys" posted data they harvested online. His story drives home a few major points including the one we all know... the best prepared department can fall victim.

Episode 195 - Chimp Crazy, 2024 Recap, & 2025 Predictions

On this episode of the K12 Tech Talk podcast, we talk about AI misuse in schools, we recap 2024's hot topics, and we spend time discussing our predictions for 2025. Oh, and we talk about Chimp Crazy and Mark's recent interactions with Tonia Haddix on TikTok. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - We're ready for break!
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/guidance-mobile-communications-best-practices.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/10/character-ai-lawsuit-teen-kill-parents-texas/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deepfake-pornography-victim-congress/
https://www.kjzz.org/education/2024-12-18/new-arizona-charter-school-will-use-ai-in-place-of-human-teachers
--------------------
Extreme Networks - Email dmayer@extremenetworks.com
Fortinet - Email fortinetpodcast@fortinet.com
HPE/Aruba - Email jeff.cobb@hpe.com
NTP
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 194 - How to Move from Lawless to Lawful Asset Management

This week we take a listener email and dive into managing district assets and how to wrangle the budget. Should schools supply headphones to all students? Should the tech dept have a headphones budget? Should parents pay for broken headphones? Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the tech dept's responsibility with headphones (and other consumables) at length. The guys also talk about software purchases. Should we have a candy man mentality? Plus, the latest on E-Rate funding, school cyber risks, and student cell phone policies. Also, Chris talks about pizza math. Josh talks about his arm pits.
https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/billions-of-school-tech-dollars-at-risk-as-supreme-court-takes-up-e-rate-case/2024/11
https://statescoop.com/rhode-island-schools-malicious-domain-protection-service/
https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-calls-states-districts-and-schools-adopt-policies-student-use-of-cell-phones-and-personal-devices
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/4-things-to-know-about-the-literacy-lawsuit-targeting-lucy-calkins-and-fountas-pinnell/2024/12#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20claims%20the%20curricula,guess%E2%80%9D%20words%20based%20on%20context%2C
https://www.k12dive.com/news/moodys-rates-education-sector-high-cyber-risk-2024/733342/
--------------------
VIZOR
Extreme Networks - Email dmayer@extremenetworks.com
Verkada
Fortinet - Email fortinetpodcast@fortinet.com
HPE/Aruba - Email jeff.cobb@hpe.com
NTP
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 193 - Will Google Really Sell Off Its Chrome Browser?

Join Josh, Chris, and Mark for a lively discussion on the future of ChromeOS and Android in the K-12 landscape. We kick things off with Josh's latest tech frustrations (proxy problems, anyone?) before diving into some recent headlines, including a fascinating AI case in Massachusetts and a timely warning from the FBI about SMS messaging.
But the main event? We tackle the swirling rumors surrounding ChromeOS and Android! Will Google really sell off its Chrome browser? What would that mean for Chromebooks in schools? And is there any truth to the whispers of a ChromeOS-Android merger? Tune in as we dissect the possibilities, explore the potential impact on K-12 education, and offer our expert insights on what the future holds for these dominant operating systems.
--------------------
Verkada
Fortinet - Email fortinetpodcast@fortinet.com
HPE/Aruba - Email jeff.cobb@hpe.com
NTP
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 192 - New Google License Structure and an IXL Lawsuit

In this episode Chris does a deep dive on the new Google Workspace license structure. Mark has an extended News section with stories about an IXL lawsuit, Goolge's anti-trust fallout, Docusign impersonation attacks, and more.
 
-Linda McMahon's background as Trump's pick for education secretary
-Significant surge in DocuSign impersonation attacks: hackers mimicking government
-IXL class-action suit advances amid student data harvesting claims
-U.S. Antitrust Regulators Want Google to Sell Chrome Browser
-Prepare your institution for the new Education Fundamentals licensing model & license types - Google Workspace Admin Help
-https://www.ed.gov/media/document/avoiding-discriminatory-use-of-ai
--------------------
Scale Computing
Scale Computing - northcentral@scalecomputing.com
Verkada
Extreme - Email dmayer@extremenetworks.com
Fortinet - Email fortinetpodcast@fortinet.com
NTP
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 191 - Interview with Tony Sager

Chris, Josh, and Mark discuss an update on the cybersecurity pilot, an FCC court case, and the future of E-Rate. Most of the episode is an interview with Tony Sager. Tony is a Senior VP & Chief Evangelist for the Center for Internet Security (CIS). 
FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Receives $3.7B in Funding Requests
Supreme Court Weighs High-Stakes Fraud Issue for E-Rate Program
What a Trump win means for the Universal Service Fund
--------------------
Scale Computing
Scale Computing - northcentral@scalecomputing.com
Verkada
Extreme - Email dmayer@extremenetworks.com
Fortinet - Email fortinetpodcast@fortinet.com
ManagedMethods
VIZOR
--------------------
Email us at k12techtalk@gmail.com
Call us at 314-329-0363
Join the K12TechPro Community
Buy some swag
X @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.