It’s something no teacher or administrator wants to think about, but what if one of your students is showing an interest in computer hacking? Teachers–sometimes more than parents–can tap into kids’ interests and skill sets. And with technology now a large part of how students are learning, it is just a matter of time until any educator runs into a student with an unexpected knowledge of how tech works or how to manipulate it.

How do you know if these students simply have a healthy curiosity or are interested in something darker? And how do you help an advanced student understand that they can use their skills for good by choosing a career as a cybersecurity professional rather than an underground hacker? Here’s how to handle such a nuanced situation.

1. Identify interest and skill

There are a few ways to pinpoint a student who has sufficient skills and interest to be a potential security threat.

First, look for kids with a high technical aptitude. They’ll be the whizzes in their computer class, often helping other kids (or teachers) who run into technical issues. Second, they seem to have all the devices and know how they work. Listen for them to talk about their phones, tablets, gaming systems, and more. Additionally, really pay attention to students who show a real curiosity about technology. These are the ones who talk frequently about new tech or ask a lot of questions; these kids are demonstrating a high level of interest in the topic. Combine technical aptitude, access to devices, and curiosity, and you have a student who could cross over into pushing the envelope a bit further than any of us want.

Second, keep an eye out for actions like changing a teacher’s password or accessing something on the network they’re not supposed to. Some kids might do this for attention. Others simply because they can. And others might consider it a harmless prank on a good-natured teacher. But if not recognized and addressed, changing a password could quickly turn into running bitcoin miners on school computers or hijacking a school quiz system in order to receive a particular incentive.

There’s no point mincing words: School districts and administrators have had a heck of a year. Not only have you been under immense pressure from parents and state officials to reopen schools safely, but your teachers are also understandably concerned about virus transmission. What’s more, your plans keep changing and you’re being forced to adapt.

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It’s an uphill battle, and there’s no doubt you’re doing your best. In all the chaos, you’re now responsible for taking temperatures and doing daily COVID-19 screenings, but you may not have had enough time to research screening devices and do sufficient due diligence before welcoming students back through your doors. Unfortunately, making a purchase like this can open you up to risk. Here’s why, and how to mitigate these risks moving forward.

Untested tech, unproven vendors

COVID-19 took the world by surprise, and people have taken a waterfall of reactionary measures ever since. Consumers have bought household goods out of panic, and schools have bought screening devices in much the same way – because they needed to.

If a student from your school had someone knock on their front door, ask for personal information and offer to give them a treat in exchange for that information, what would happen? It depends on the child, but what you know for certain is that your district or school has been teaching stranger danger since that child was in kindergarten, so the odds are good that the interaction would raise a red flag for the student.

Why is it, then, that students are posting videos and photos on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat without any concern that their school name or home address is displayed prominently in the background?

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The reason is simple: we – parents and educators alike – aren’t adequately teaching our kids cyber life skills designed to protect them online.

Life skills are relative – and ever-evolving

Simply put, life skills have always been relative to the time of society. When sabre toothed tigers roamed the earth in 10,000 BC, humans were taught to watch them because their lives, literally, depended on it. When automobiles became more commonplace in the early 1900’s, we had to teach children to look both ways before crossing the street.

Cybersecurity has always been a high priority for K-12 administrators and staff, but with the rapid push to remote learning brought on by COVID-19, school leadership has had to consider how to educate through the lens of cybersecurity.

While school years are closing up for the 2019 – 2020 year, it’s still unknown what our learning environments will look like for the 2020 – 2021 school year. Let’s look at 10 things that K-12 schools must focus on – whether the next school year takes place in person on via remote learning.

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1. Perform A Risk Assessment
You’re already doing risk assessments for severe weather, fire, or other types of crises and emergencies. Do the same for your technology resources. This will give you the visibility you need to identify areas of concern. Don’t be surprised if your assessment finds that you have more systems than you realized. For instance, many administrators are surprised to learn that computers are controlling other systems such as door locks or cameras.

2. Create and Maintain an Accurate Technology Inventory
The vast majority of districts don’t have an accurate inventory of their technology assets and contracts because they aren’t considering their hardware and software resources in addition to the third-party services with whom they’re contracted. Districts have to have a holistic view of all of these assets if they are to properly secure their schools and students.