Navigated to Cybersecurity Preparedness: A District’s Triumph

Cybersecurity Preparedness: A District’s Triumph

November 26
8 mins

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Episode Description

This podcast reviews a recent CoSN webinar, “We Survived a Cyber Incident: From Readiness to Recovery,” and explores how one school district successfully contained and recovered from a live cyberattack.

Episode Summary

In January 2024, an Arizona district faced a real cyber incident when a compromised service account allowed a threat actor into the network. Thanks to a strong Cyber Incident Response Plan, rapid quarantine, and a disciplined communication strategy, the district restored critical systems in under 24 hours with no evidence of data exfiltration.


Key Topics

  • How the incident was detected and escalated

  • Steps taken to isolate the threat and prevent spread

  • Rapid restoration using layered backups

  • Clear, controlled communication with leadership and staff

  • Post-incident improvements, including MFA expansion and service account cleanup

Why This Matters

The episode highlights actionable lessons on preparedness, planning, and leadership—showing how every district can strengthen cybersecurity before an incident occurs.


Assets

Watch the webinar:

⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REzmsuKmIkw

Webinar Audio

Webinar Slides


For a complete listing of all CoSN's webinars, please visit:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cosn.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


Produced in partnership with⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠edCircuit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠


CoSN is vendor-neutral and does not endorse products or services. Any mention of a specific solution is for contextual purposes.


This episode was generated in part using AI tools. All content was reviewed and approved by CoSN and the edCircuit editorial team before publication.


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