The Best Defense Against Cyberattacks, From a District CTO

As Melissa Tebbenkamp sees it, cybersecurity is as much about district behavior as it is about the damage any bad actor tries to inflict.

Tebbenkamp, the director of instructional technology for the Raytown Quality Schools, a 9,000-student school system outside Kansas City, is expected to run point in guarding against phishing scams, malware, and other forms of cyberattacks.

But she’s also counting on her colleagues, from top administrators to the district’s teachers, to make the right decisions when a suspicious e-mail lands in their basket and something doesn’t seem quite right.

So Tebbenkamp has put an emphasis on training staff to do their part to make the district’s system’s more secure. Her district also puts restrictions on the tech applications that staff can access online, to keep the chances of unwanted intrusions to a minimum.