April 13, 2023 • 42 mins
We have a number of listener emails that we address tonight. One is about shutting down SIS during off hours in an effort to protect it from attacks, one is about the Chrome net-export exploit, and the final one is about our retrospective on the COVID Years. We talk about CISA's new tabletop exercise template and how it would be fun to treat like it D&D: School Edition. We also talk about Black Hills Information Security's "Backdoors & Breaches" card game. We also talk about how "testing season" has changed over the last 5-7 years; from when devices were shared and testing was staggered to now when you can test an entire building in a few days.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
this is K-12 Tech talk
(00:06):
the podcast by K-12 tax for K-12 tax
real conversations real arguments and
real banter on trending K-12 technology
topics and issues
live from thesomethingcool.com Studios
this is the K-12 Tech Talk podcast
(00:28):
episode 114 I am Josh with me
we're all back together actually tonight
first time I've seen the inside of
Chris's house in over a month I'm gonna
try to hang out the whole time this is
that was Chris and Mark hello hey Mark
so it's been another week it seems like
(00:49):
these weeks are flying by like crazy
thankfully Jeremy has stocked the green
room again with uh spring beverages a
nice uh light Fresca this evening
um not looking I didn't see any food so
I don't know what's up with that Jeremy
uh but Jeremy and the cooligans at
somethingcool.com can help you with any
(01:11):
number of issues they sell Hardware they
sell software they can do some cyber
training for your staff they can do
fishing Services uh what else what am I
missing do they like selling Ruckus oh
they got they got cloud backup stuff as
well oh that's right
and Jeremy did this is real talk
(01:32):
he said tell Josh
to quit badmouth in like sonic wall and
Lenovo I haven't no okay
I'm in badmouth's time to call in a
while now Lenovo they they're they're on
the top of nope hey
all right uh okay so what's Jeremy's
(01:52):
email address
Jeremy at somethingcool.com shoot Jeremy
an email and tell him that we sent you
and that you like Lenovo that you like
sonic wall yes it's all a bit right it's
it's all just a bit
um no really I did have someone ask does
something cool really send you guys
stuff
I had somebody ask me that this weekend
(02:14):
yeah yes yes they do yeah it's all true
ghost energy drinks Warheads Warhead
sour watermelon that's what I'm drinking
lime Fresca
um so what what's been up guys it's it's
been a busy week it's testing season
it's spring spring is in the air mark
you just said it was 85 in your town
(02:35):
today yeah really nice weather went for
a walk today I thought about some things
[Laughter]
might be in midlife crisis
um
yeah so are you guys Mark when do you
guys do do you guys do spring assessment
when is your assessment time frame where
you live we are in the middle of our of
(02:57):
our assessment window yeah I was at a
school the other day uh and that they
we had a school I was like we're gonna
we're gonna test every kid today for the
first day I was like well this is this
this sounds like a recipe for disaster
but it was good it was very smooth you
guys test on Chromebooks right and then
yeah yep yeah we do too since we really
started pushing one to one heavy about
(03:19):
five years ago it's it's been really
interesting to watch how my first couple
years in my district the spring
assessment window and those buildings
they only had one cart per grade level
so they had to share it so the testing
window we took advantage of the entire
like month and a half two month long
testing window where now every every
(03:39):
classroom has a cart and every kid has a
device available to them almost any time
during the day so they can bang out that
testing window in like a week and a half
now it's uh it's pretty wild how that
happens
um Chris any any thoughts on Spring
assessments we just started this week as
well we typically do luck out where they
(03:59):
pick one or two classrooms in small
class sizes like 10 or less kids
uh we did happen to pick uh so we use
what is it Josh DRC yeah
uh the day that DRC was down this week
yep was our very first day of trying to
test I think there were a lot of people
in that boat and I think that's probably
what I think that happens every year
(04:20):
every year the start of the window DRC
crashes because everyone tries to get in
because I we we we try to do like
we tell the buildings to do the
pre-check stuff that you can do to check
you know screen resolution blah blah
blah uh I tell them that like two months
in advance and do a reminder email like
(04:41):
hey make sure you check this there's a
building Tech that can help fix those
things they're looking for the they do
that check and they're looking for the
green check marks the whole bit so they
were feeling pretty good
uh and then that building in particular
called because they're freaking out and
they're like we checked these because
that's always my first hey did you check
that Chromebook is it getting hungry
check marks that's the easy thing to
tell a teacher
um and it's always the resolution it's
(05:02):
always the kids that have messed with
the resolution it's always I agree
um you guys test early in the window we
so Chris and I it's no secret Chris and
I are in the same state
um
are we we will not start testing I think
for another week and a half
so we we ride that window till the
(05:23):
bitter and it kind of freaks me out
we've had this discussion before where
you hear you hear these horror stories
where like a squirrel or a groundhog
chews through a a fiber line and the
district loses internet for three days
that that's my fear is like we're
waiting until The Bitter End of the
testing window and like they have to be
turned in on Tuesday and we're testing
(05:45):
on Monday
my fear is that there's going to be a
badger eat through a fiber line and and
we're not gonna be able to a wild boar
oh you wild in an outbreak of an alpaca
horde goes running down the street you
know would it pick your favorite animal
uh well in our neck of woods it's the
construction vehicles that come out of
(06:06):
hibernation this time of year
and they all start digging they'll start
digging yeah people finders the giant
caterpillars and backhoes and they all
come out stretch their buckets and then
they just start digging what did you say
bucket bucket bucket and then they start
digging and then sometimes they find
(06:27):
food and sometimes they find Fiber lines
um and so that's happened to us a couple
times already sucks man yeah we've had
that happen more than more than once
yeah oh that was yeah those had a lot of
fun conversations can I say isp's name
sure
sure yeah whatever had a issue with an
(06:48):
ISP this week I I I'll I'll omit the
name you have the worst problems with
your isps uh we had we had a deal there
was some weird routing things going on
we could
we could get to this Gateway this is
kind of school related kind of not
whatever doesn't really matter
it doesn't really matter I could ping
this Gateway but couldn't actually reach
(07:08):
it it was really weird and if you were
like with if you were in-house it was
okay but externally you're on another
provider not working long story short uh
we are from Josh Schneider from Missouri
uh abbreviation is Mo
spelled am I you know uh so Spectra or
(07:30):
I'm not saying the name I forgot anyways
they thought I was in Michigan
so they did a bunch of routing junk uh
we were going Michigan trying to I don't
even know what they were doing on the
back end how does that even happen
so the the local uh Tech when he came he
called it in and he was like he put the
phone and he was like they just asked me
(07:52):
how the weather was in Michigan I'm
pretty sure I have an idea about what's
going on here
oh my gosh how how is that I don't know
and it took it took a little while still
from the because they have like here's
the five things we're gonna troubleshoot
before we're really gonna dig into it
right right uh so they're testing the
line and testing the speed and and
(08:14):
whatever five different tests before
they allowed him to get to the and this
is him talking to him you know to his
employer uh before they would let him
speak
and say like hey I think I think we got
some wrong State stuff going on he told
me he's like I'm have to I'm going to do
all this stupid stuff before they're
gonna let me uh express my opinion but
(08:35):
how's kind of fun
you know you know who that wouldn't
happen to
because they're in they're into who is
that they do audits they'll audit your G
your Google workspace absolute yes
absolute a response for the K-12 Tech
Talk podcast you looked really confused
there for a minute I was first I'm still
learning about absolute as are you as
(08:57):
are we as are the listeners talking
about the wrong vendor I just didn't
know are we who are we talking about uh
they want me to talk about
how they can help you protect against
ransomware
uh we think of ransomware we we don't
think about this but typically a lot of
people think about ransomware in
business sector land it's absolutely
(09:18):
hitting in K-12 now uh the Bad actors
they're going after us now in K-12 it's
been that way for a while uh absolute
they have a unique ransomware response
product
uh they can help you with your security
trolls to put into place
um and I'm going to put a link in the
podcast description about the ransomware
(09:39):
response uh that absolute can help you
with and we're about we're like three
weeks in with with with absolute we're
gonna keep uh Mark's favorite word we're
gonna keep unpacking a little bit about
them uh if you're paying attention go
out of your way to actually look at the
podcast description click on those links
and learn more but they're going to be
with us for like a total of six weeks so
(10:00):
towards the end of this I think we're
probably gonna do a sit-down interview
with a couple guys from absolute if you
want any information after checking them
out if you email Oliver Schmidt that's
oh Schmidt at absolute.com I'll put his
email address in the podcast description
as well it's totally childish but I
giggle like a school boy whenever you
(10:20):
say it yeah I wish you wouldn't because
I don't know how Oliver feels about that
I'm sure he hates it he's probably gonna
punch me in the throat when we have this
he listens too he's gonna send me
something about this
I feel like this is good like I think
it's great I think it's the perfect
sales rep oh yeah right people remember
it like I'm willing to remember Oliver's
name because of his email address yes
(10:43):
it was absolute a proud sponsor the K-12
Tech Talk podcast which by the way hit
50 000 downloads this week
yeah no claps nothing yay
um yes 50 000 downloads that's awesome
speaking of okay a couple comments while
you were talking I I have things going
(11:05):
in and out of my head uh if you're
paying attention off Chris you said you
made you use the phrase if you're paying
attention if you're paying attention to
these episodes count the number of times
that Chris says the word unpack or
unpacking you know I feel did you guys
have another text like were you guys
texting about me or talking about me
behind my back no no not this week did
(11:27):
you crack that joke before we started
this and then I said it and then you're
talking about it again that's what makes
me think that you've talked about we
have not talked behind your back no this
is all organic
um so yeah just count and email us or
tweet this how many times he says
unpacker unpacking
so uh you had mentioned ransomware and
what absolute can do
(11:48):
something that came up on K-12 Tech Pro
this week was
um oh K12 Tech Pro somebody yes the
vetted Community for K-12 technicians
and K-12 it directors about
um you know it like a forum a discussion
forum and there's different water cooled
posting and somebody I don't remember
the name of the person that posted this
(12:09):
but they are getting ready to do a
tabletop exercise with their school and
some leadership in their school on a
ransomware incident
and
um I
I felt like it was a good idea to unpack
that
um but my the point of this is sizza if
(12:30):
if you don't know uh Services of the
Cyber um they have several tabletops
pre-built for all of the critical
infrastructure
um everything from a third party vendor
event to local government event a
federal civilian executive branch DDOS
attack one of the things they have
excuse me one of the things they have is
(12:52):
a K-12 schools uh situation manual a
ctep such situation manual and this
walks you through a ransomware incident
in a K-12 environment it has several
different modules to it and you kind of
Step through it like a story line and uh
this is different than the one that I
(13:12):
took part in over a year ago and they
have definitely stepped their game up
they have definitely improved this
tabletop exercise I feel like it's
definitely a conversation or a scenario
that you could walk through
um with almost any leadership or any
employee in the district because you
know Chris we were talking about the
(13:32):
show or before the show about how you
know
some of the hard discussions are going
to be okay how long can you live without
a financial system how long can you live
without charging for lunch real time
those are kind of the questions that
this provides you to ask and then
develop a priority for systems to be
brought back up yeah because like that
(13:54):
particular one that they have posted
I forget the actual question but it's
like it it wants the room to have a
conversation about all the different
systems and then really dig into it like
at what point like let's talk about a
room at what point would you say High
School would you say Elementary would
you say safety director would you say
(14:14):
admin uh that we don't have school uh
how many days could we go without with
our Cooks have to do everything by hand
as far as who's eating breakfast and
who's eating lunch uh and then like that
Financial system conversation uh hey sis
admin and tech department if if our
financial system was hit how many days
would it take you to get a spec up and
(14:35):
running and he says two but then you're
looking over at the financial people and
they're like oh no we can only be down
for a day well we need to have a
conversation about this right now
because
we have our we have the ability to
promise you or to strive for two days if
you're saying one day and and okay let's
talk about this which side's winning
here or what's the compromise do we need
(14:57):
to spend more money on backups for that
particular system or are we just going
to settle we need to talk about what if
it's three days what if it's four days
uh to actually have those conversations
uh and Dancer about them and and that
particular one gave like
I forget it gets in like it's like day
one there's like an email from the FBI
blah blah and that's kind of the point
(15:18):
of the blah blah blah even is
okay counselor that came to this table
top exercise
if you get an email about FBI that talks
about ransomware do you think that
pertains to you at all or do you just
write that thing off okay you say you
write that thing off what about you
principle when you see an email like
that does that affect you at all do you
think about that okay day one you guys
think that's Tech Department's problem
(15:39):
and then it's not until it was like it's
like day nine like an employee gets
fired and again you're supposed to kind
of think through the room do we care
about as far as a cyber security threat
goes if an employee gets fired like what
precautions do we have with that and
then it really hits
uh gets bad about day 40 or whatever or
(16:00):
a ransomware attack is introduced and
you're supposed to unpack that so not
just for Tech departments to go through
the scenario
but for everyone too and I think go
ahead Mark I'm sorry
nope I was just making the motion that
he just said unpack
oh I did yep I I think it definitely
helps
(16:21):
um the non-technical people in your
District if you invite you know a
cross-platformer across
um departmental type event
um it helps those non-technical people
kind of get a glimpse into the amount of
noise that we see on a daily basis from
alerts from MSI sex is a FBI
(16:43):
um and okay how do you how do you parse
out how do you pull out the one or two
that oh
I really need to pay attention to this
one
um and then you know like in in this in
this tabletop it's something kind of out
of left field that you haven't been
alerted to that ends up happening so you
know you you have this constant and and
(17:04):
they're all valid emails are all valid
alerts but which ones do you take more
seriously than others and I think that's
a good
um those people kind of need to see that
you know I
I'm trying to get better but I struggle
with tabletops a little bit because
you're kind of supposed to like
use your imagination and like get into
it yeah and I have a hard time like the
(17:25):
one that you host to Josh yeah it was
great but I just like listening to other
people
um I just have a hard time like
I don't know like Josh Josh was like
he was like fed feelings of being under
attack when he's going through the
exercise so that's every day man if you
role play like Dungeons and Dungeons and
dragon Style
(17:46):
one person is the dungeon master I'm
like oh ransomware
well that that uh back doors and reaches
you will call and do stuff like that
yeah nice yeah so back if if you're
you've locked the ransomware
if you don't know what backdoors and
breeches is it is roll the dice to see
(18:08):
what the Bitcoin amount will be
it's it's from uh Black Hills
information security and they have made
a card game that is uh all uh not
all-encompassing but several different
threat vectors uh several uh gotchas as
as the event goes on it and you loot you
(18:29):
do legitimately
um roll dice to see how you figure
things out and how you get Beyond
certain steps and certain certain events
that are taking place they've got a
really good YouTube video on how to play
it and they their office kind of steps
through playing the game and it's it's
pretty entertaining
um that's from Black Hills information
security they are super cool they offer
(18:52):
a lot of training this is not they're
not paying us to say any of this
actually
um they offer a lot of training man
um they're super they are brilliant
people
um they they um
I bought I bought a couple T-shirts from
them so
um yeah check them out back doors and
breeches if choose character High School
(19:14):
secretary
what kind of armor does the high school
secretary have I don't know
maintenance director
hit points plus four
um
so Chris you said we had yes
(19:34):
we had some uh man we could spend an
hour just drawing up the characters I
know I'm holding back
um Chris you said we had some listener
emails why don't you we did so listener
Aaron
uh said and this has been a a little
while ago and I don't think I was around
for this episode uh but you guys
(19:55):
unpacked uh about the Chrome the net
export exploit uh you guys talked about
that on an episode
um and he spent some time messing with
that unpacking it I'm gonna keep saying
it uh found a website where you can
upload and and figure out some things uh
so he was giving us a thank you for that
(20:15):
information but also to pass along that
it's a thousand percent legit uh if that
is a real life exploit happening yeah
and remind me what what that was that
boy what was that that was something
with getting into a chrome URL or a
Chrome OS URL exporting a text file and
(20:39):
then going to a website that kind of
unhashed uh the text string that was in
that text file and it came back with the
SSID passphrase if I'm remembering right
um and yeah the afternoon that we found
it I think it was a post on Reddit or
K12 Tech Pro one of the two because
(21:01):
they're so they're so competing there
um
one of my guys uh saw it and he's like
uh yeah I just did this and this is
legit like this really does work so
um it is definitely a threat yeah and
that's something that you can block you
can block that URL you can go in the
(21:21):
Google admin and do the URL blocking on
that which probably should have already
had happened right yeah but you know
that gets back into that thing of Google
releasing settings that
I feel like they could do a much better
job of alert alerting admins to
um
and you look again like last week that
wireless setting that we changed I
didn't know that existed
(21:43):
um so I don't know that you can really
blame anyone for having not having that
blocked
I think I can tell a funny uh student
Chromebook story really quick I think
this is yeah yeah yeah I can I can
unpack this real quick
had a had a kid
um Chromebook having an issue I think it
was with his screen touch screen or
something not working brings the
(22:03):
Chromebook down uh I spend just a little
bit I'm actually the one that messes
with it do a little bit of diagnostic
stuff it's absolutely the screen so
we're gonna issue him a new Chromebook
uh so that's what's gonna happen right
so
check his stuff out it's going to go to
the library they're going to issue him a
new Chromebook he comes back later
because he saved a bunch of stuff to his
(22:25):
like the local downloads folder
on the Chromebook which is a bummer
because that stuff doesn't transfer with
you right and I can tell he's devastated
and usually when this happens the guys
kind of look at me they want because our
at our I'm located at the high school
and we have like a like a half door and
we want to be available uh to the
(22:45):
teachers to the kids uh but when when
stuff like this is happening the guys
kind of look at me because I'm going to
be the villain that says your downloads
are gone
uh so I'm saying it and I still I'm like
hey man yeah anything really important
to you you should save to your Google
Drive don't save it locally through your
downloads folder We're not gonna be able
to get that back for people to walk
because we've already tried to wipe that
Chromebook and moved on with life and
(23:06):
stuff he's devastated I can tell uh he
does a quick hand movement
um and I didn't notice this my
technician noticed this in the middle of
us talking
uh and then he's like well
my chromebook's doing this
and he had he had done the keys to make
it try to refresh like to make it have
(23:28):
like a Chrome OS error you know like
ready to be wiped uh so my technician
noticed that he so what he was trying to
do was like he was trying to get his
Chromebook back yeah uh very smart but
then we just reset it and told him he's
good to go
but he was trying
he was trying
good good story great story yeah
(23:50):
uh so what's our name what's our next
listener email
oh
you bring me down and bring me back up
another listener email from Mike uh
talking about the three-year episode I
don't think I was around for this one
either I think it was it was uh intern
it was Eric the intern I mean let's
(24:11):
let's face it you probably we could
consider you part-time for the last two
months three months I don't know what's
been going on
anyway he said somehow I hadn't heard
your podcast until fairly recently and
I'm really enjoying it a lot so far your
episode about about it being three years
since everything closed down uh really
resonated with me as it marked a huge
moment in my life my wife and I had
(24:34):
welcomed our first child into the world
shortly after the lockdown and then he
just goes on to unpack just how crazy uh
it was during that time he told us
things for uh our work and to keep it up
but an interesting listening to that
episode that you guys did I don't know
if that's is that trauma that we have
with that time or just these memories
(24:56):
hit really hard we can instantly like
think back about what life was like I
think during that time trauma yeah I was
thinking about talking about Google
admin stuff I got all kinds of
ous in there I need to clean up that was
like on the Fly
virtual learning things we were doing
that I need to go back and do cleanup of
my tech stuff still
(25:16):
I remember spin up a Google site for our
virtual Learners in a day my department
was like what are you doing building the
website and I was like I had to do it
guys and our final listener email which
will I think uh interesting yes so
listener
h
we'll go with that I am proposing to our
(25:39):
Administration that we shut off our
public facing CIS in the late evenings
and weekends to help protect against
possible cyber attacks older
Administration doesn't understand and
they want to keep things running
and that means that people of course at
1am will have access what are your
(25:59):
thoughts on something like this
um I would really like to power these
things off uh to have the bad guys have
some disadvantage
Mark uh yeah I had it I hadn't thought
about that uh and I think my gut
reaction to that was like well that just
seems a little maybe unnecessary like
(26:19):
why bother doing that I mean and I guess
it all depends on how you're going to do
it when you say powering off that just
seems like it's a recipe for disaster
when you have to power things back on
the morning
um but you know the more they think
about it you know we're we're right now
planning for spring break and we're
going through kind of buttoning down the
hatches and looking for you know as we
start to go and and go migrate away from
(26:41):
our systems for the next week and we
have less eyes looking at things we're
battening down the hatches and starting
to figure out what are the things we
need to clean up
um
so it does kind of make sense like
taking that on a smaller level you know
you're not in your student information
system in the middle of the night you
don't have a legitimate business need to
be there
um so I kind of see that I I do see the
(27:02):
value in saying there's no need for us
to have a system up and active in the
middle tonight when all of us are asleep
why not take it offline
um to reduce risk can I
take a Counterpoint to that you can yeah
so Mark you're dumb
um I know I know yeah
(27:23):
no the only the only concern that I
would have with that would be I know we
have teachers that grade things later in
the evening
um so I think finding that time that you
either have a firewall rule that kicks
in and disables external access or you
have a scheduled task that shuts the box
down
(27:43):
I think you're gonna have to try and
find that sweet spot you know is it is
it 11 o'clock at night is it midnight is
it 1am and then when does it come back
on because I know when I pull into the
office at 6 50 in the morning there's
teachers that have beat me there so yeah
at what time do you do you bring that
stuff back up I
(28:04):
I understand the idea of it but I almost
wonder if you're not
you're not bringing more headache onto
um we a couple years ago we took the
step of creating a scheduled task that
shut down machines on Friday nights and
I just did it because it no one reboots
their machines like I know for a fact if
(28:25):
if we don't do this there's going to be
machines in my district that have been
up for 174 days since the first day of
school
so but some people had the idea well you
know if they're powered off they can't
be hit well yeah that that's true but
that's not that's not the big push while
I was why I was doing that
um I think there is validity to the
(28:45):
statement I just think
it would be a it would be a tough
conversation yeah no I I'm not I'm kind
of indifferent on this one I mean I
think we're we're
right now looking at you know summer
vacation as you start to get to summer
vacation one of the big things that you
need to do to prepare for summer
vacation you know that's when if you
look at some of these big attacks La was
(29:06):
a great example where they were hit at 8
pm on the Friday night before Labor Day
weekend and you start to look at other
districts getting hit they're getting
hit on Thursday nights Friday nights
before Easter weekend before spring
break so I do think that there is is
validity in saying when we don't need a
system
um we know that our attackers are going
to hit us when we're down when we're not
(29:26):
looking and they know when we're asleep
um I don't know I mean really on how you
do that how you implement that I think
really needs to be cared for otherwise
you're going to make a whole lot more
work for yourself if it does not come
back automatically and you got to
imagine there's always going to be
somebody that wakes up before you oh
yeah and is going to go to the sis so if
(29:46):
you don't have it set where you can have
that on at a reasonable hour
and I honestly I think 5 a.m would be
the latest I'd have it come back on
um
at least in my district I know we have
people uh at work
um shortly after five
yeah and you have to do it in a way that
does not depend on you otherwise you're
you're going to kill yourself when
(30:07):
people start knocking on your door in
the middle or in the early morning so
you guys um like you're you're like your
homes
do you leave your front doors unlocked
no no no do you ever leave your front
doors
open overnight I mean I thought the
answer to the first question would solve
(30:27):
that it's locked but it's a long Mark
yeah yeah no we lock our doors and we
just leave them wide open
um no I grew up in an area where we
never never locked the door once we go
on vacation and never lock the door yeah
but where I am now I gotta lock it
um
yeah so just quickly another thought
(30:47):
that comes in my head is a
a parent that works Night Shift
that wants to check their students
grades you know I I think
there would be a whole lot of use cases
that you're gonna we'll end up
generating a call if you try to do that
I would like if listener H ended up
doing this
I would like to hear back he's not gonna
(31:08):
you called him you called Mark dumb
therefore you called listener H Dom I
was just being I was trying to have a
debate with Mark uh yeah and I was
agreeing with h and I got called dumb
man it wasn't even my idea uh I would
like to hear back that if the if H did
implement this how has it gone how how
did people take it
(31:29):
um have parents have have you know
members of the community said anything
about it
um it would be an interesting case study
I think and I mean maybe we're going to
get to the point where in cyber
insurance
so listener h i was slow to uh reply to
him on the email
(31:51):
so I was just I was like I think he
emailed back oh gosh and he did
um he said if you want some feedback
this wasn't planned this is great he
said I actually did the cyst shutdown uh
as a test weekends only at first
starting Friday night I opened it to
(32:12):
every night without saying anything to
anyone I moved all other servers to this
policy basically in the middle of the
next month uh to date I have had one PE
teacher on a Friday night who was at
home watching a movie eating pizza and
the side of the hop on and enter in his
grades off hours I've had one student
ask about getting into his grades from
(32:34):
home after hours uh both cases they were
uh isolated incidences and no one else
asked or complained uh once I mentioned
the hours of operation uh both have been
satisfied and moved on both of those
that that teacher and that student he
said I think I'm gonna leave it as it is
for right now uh it was really not a big
(32:57):
deal and honestly there might be two or
three people that actually access it
over hours you know yeah
well okay so if not shutting the system
down what else can you do to prepare for
that time when you're you're away what
are you going to do over a long weekend
or before spring break because
everybody's going on spring break or
they just came back from spring break so
(33:17):
what are those things that you can do
to prepare for that that unattended time
period you know it not a server thing
but desktops you could you could ask
teachers to shut your their machines
down Mark like you've said kind of kill
off any non-critical systems that are
tapping the web for anything put in a
rule that says you know these the print
server can't get out of the web or you
(33:39):
know but again how much work are you
going to go to on the front side to just
come back a week later and undo it
I I don't know
um is it worthwhile probably is it going
to protect you yeah
I don't know yeah I think it yeah I
think you're on something there too I
think it could really depend on
like okay the three of us considering
(34:01):
this if if we then went to our our Tech
departments and we talked through how we
would accomplish this if it's kind of
easy to accomplish okay sure let's do it
that's that's easy fruit if it's gonna
be hard let's leave that one up on the
tree like whatever easy fruit let's pick
something else yeah here's here's what I
would do before you get to a long
(34:23):
weekend rather than shutting the sis
down or shutting down a system down go
through the admin accounts go through
this this admin accounts see if you've
got any gray hairs that need to be
trimmed off
um if you've got somebody that only
needs you know district-wide or or a
high level access on occasion maybe you
suspend their account or remove that
(34:43):
access for the long weekend I mean
that's obviously that's a lot more
manual work inside every procedure that
shuts the system down but I would rather
you know start to trim down the the
Stray or Dorman accounts that's a more
likely thing that's going to happen is a
dormant account is going to be taken
over and use when you're not looking
um I you know I refer to them as sleeper
(35:03):
accounts if I'm if I'm a threat actor
I'm gonna go in I'm gonna set us a
sleeper account in in place and then um
that's what the account is that I'm
going to use that night so rather than
shut the system down I would say your
long weekends your Spring Breaks that's
your chance to kind of give yourself a
little bit of a trim and and and go
through your assist admin accounts your
(35:24):
high level domain admins
and I think too most most next-gen
firewalls have schedule based or that I
think you could you could create a like
we do this with wireless we shut down
our guest Network at four o'clock in the
evening and it doesn't come back on
until seven o'clock the next morning
that's easy to do with Aruba Wireless
(35:47):
I think you could do the same thing with
a Florida gate firewall and do a
time-based rule that would kill
external access for several of your
servers or even all of your servers you
know name Ade print files you know
whatever
um speaking of Florida gate in Fortinet
Chris Fortinet podcast at fortinet.com
(36:10):
email them let them know that you heard
about them from us you can even just
email them and say hi and if you're
looking for a firewall if you're looking
for some EDR if you're looking for
whatever
border has a ton of products we we know
that four to everything so email
fortinetpodcast fortinet.com
order everything let's talk about New
(36:31):
Hampshire we're going to New Hampshire
soon
the New Hampshire CTO Clinic all three
of us going to be there in person Mark
do you want to talk about the keynote
that we get to do
it is a retrospect some of the Lessons
Learned uh so it's going to be a really
exciting look back at what are the
challenges that we had to go through
(36:52):
during cobit and what are the things
that have changed our jobs and and the
way we do things but also how do we use
those to think about the future we've
got new technologies coming up on on us
really quickly like Ai and uh how do we
make sure that AI does not take over us
before we get a chance to actually
understand what it's going to do and how
it's going to change our districts so
(37:14):
that'll be a little bit of fun we need
the help of seats right
um that's in New Hampshire but anyone up
in New England can attend
yeah it's gonna be fun come on up it's
going to be Mark said it's going to be
exciting so bring your popcorn
um and Mark would know because he's the
one writing the Keynote
yes uh
I don't think there is AI networking
(37:37):
equipment yet but I think who will
develop it first will be extreme
networks don't you think Chris yeah D
mayor to extremnetworks.com hit that guy
up uh and also talking about K-12 Tech
Pro there's a new article from Eric the
intern on there about all the free
training if your e-rate season is coming
(37:58):
to a close maybe you're starting to get
your new networking gear in extreme
networks is one of the ones listed that
they give free training so if you got
new switches and you're not sure how to
config them you can go to K12 Tech Pro
click on that free articles article
free articles article free tools article
uh and extreme networks the link to
(38:19):
their free training is listed there and
email D mayor extremnetworks.com
alrighty and we appreciate them being on
um
it's eval season do you guys so we've
had to do or I had to do evals for my uh
two employees you guys I know you guys
get reviewed and evals from whoever
you're whoever
(38:40):
um I'm assuming you do evals I do
uh I usually do one formal one a year
and then one I call informal it's more
just laid back
um
both have the same like the sheet that I
give is the same yeah but I always say
one doesn't really count it's just more
making sure that uh it's it's really a
(39:02):
lot of most of the time uh it's my
chance to communicate well that I think
they're doing a good job and to say some
of those things that I don't say daily
or even weekly to them or maybe
sometimes monthly to them it's a good
check on that it's even a good time just
to talk about projects going on and
uh cross training opportunities
sometimes I like to unpack that but yeah
(39:25):
twice a year basically yeah unpack I'm
gonna work on that guys I'm gonna work
on that and I think it's a good chance
to you know rather than waiting till the
end of the year one one per year
um you can address things a little
sooner if something needs to be
addressed you can address it halfway
through a changer so yeah definitely
(39:46):
um think about be doing your evals for
your Tech staff revision Data Solutions
across sponsorical Tech Talk podcast
reach out to Ryan rothkoff a provision
data Solution that's all I got bro all
right
that's all I'm gonna unpack tonight
Mark anything else
I got nothing now yeah nothing so we
meet we got one more time and then we're
(40:07):
gonna be in person is that what's going
on what's the oh
we got two or three more times oh
yeah we got two more times and then that
final week I will be going to Dallas
for vex robotics competition with my
middle schoolers
we're gonna kick butt on the world stage
(40:27):
and then I'm leaving from Dallas to meet
Mark at an airport
in Boston
been working on that
and then Josh you're gonna show up like
an hour after me yep Mark are we just
gonna sit on a bench like in the airport
no I'm gonna I'm gonna take you like a
like it's a place I'm gonna take you in
an hour oh yeah I want to be dead before
(40:49):
you get there Josh
the airport's right in the middle of
town so like it's gonna pop out
live it up and then come back and get
Josh could you bring me to Mark
Wahlberg's childhood home
yeah we could do that we can do that I'm
a big fan of him and also the New Kids
on the Block
(41:10):
Joey McIntyre's house maybe
you know do you know where that's at
where where is this going we have them
all in our assists it's kind of
interesting do you really yeah yeah
Josh can you name one New Kids on the
Block song uh
um
he probably does they probably have to
(41:32):
sing him instead of the national anthem
there they sing new
um
oh the right stuff there we go oh yeah
Mark can you sing that really quick
I if I did I might like screw up and do
the Weird Al version what was the other
one or maybe that was that one oh yeah
that was uh uh oh
(41:55):
um all right we will I guess we'll see
you next week thanks for listening first
time was the best time second time
you got the Rockstar
this is K-12 Tech talk
(00:06):
the podcast by K-12 tax for K-12 tax
real conversations real arguments and
real banter on trending K-12 technology
topics and issues
live from thesomethingcool.com Studios
this is the K-12 Tech Talk podcast
(00:28):
episode 114 I am Josh with me
we're all back together actually tonight
first time I've seen the inside of
Chris's house in over a month I'm gonna
try to hang out the whole time this is
that was Chris and Mark hello hey Mark
so it's been another week it seems like
(00:49):
these weeks are flying by like crazy
thankfully Jeremy has stocked the green
room again with uh spring beverages a
nice uh light Fresca this evening
um not looking I didn't see any food so
I don't know what's up with that Jeremy
uh but Jeremy and the cooligans at
somethingcool.com can help you with any
(01:11):
number of issues they sell Hardware they
sell software they can do some cyber
training for your staff they can do
fishing Services uh what else what am I
missing do they like selling Ruckus oh
they got they got cloud backup stuff as
well oh that's right
and Jeremy did this is real talk
(01:32):
he said tell Josh
to quit badmouth in like sonic wall and
Lenovo I haven't no okay
I'm in badmouth's time to call in a
while now Lenovo they they're they're on
the top of nope hey
all right uh okay so what's Jeremy's
(01:52):
email address
Jeremy at somethingcool.com shoot Jeremy
an email and tell him that we sent you
and that you like Lenovo that you like
sonic wall yes it's all a bit right it's
it's all just a bit
um no really I did have someone ask does
something cool really send you guys
stuff
I had somebody ask me that this weekend
(02:14):
yeah yes yes they do yeah it's all true
ghost energy drinks Warheads Warhead
sour watermelon that's what I'm drinking
lime Fresca
um so what what's been up guys it's it's
been a busy week it's testing season
it's spring spring is in the air mark
you just said it was 85 in your town
(02:35):
today yeah really nice weather went for
a walk today I thought about some things
[Laughter]
might be in midlife crisis
um
yeah so are you guys Mark when do you
guys do do you guys do spring assessment
when is your assessment time frame where
you live we are in the middle of our of
(02:57):
our assessment window yeah I was at a
school the other day uh and that they
we had a school I was like we're gonna
we're gonna test every kid today for the
first day I was like well this is this
this sounds like a recipe for disaster
but it was good it was very smooth you
guys test on Chromebooks right and then
yeah yep yeah we do too since we really
started pushing one to one heavy about
(03:19):
five years ago it's it's been really
interesting to watch how my first couple
years in my district the spring
assessment window and those buildings
they only had one cart per grade level
so they had to share it so the testing
window we took advantage of the entire
like month and a half two month long
testing window where now every every
(03:39):
classroom has a cart and every kid has a
device available to them almost any time
during the day so they can bang out that
testing window in like a week and a half
now it's uh it's pretty wild how that
happens
um Chris any any thoughts on Spring
assessments we just started this week as
well we typically do luck out where they
(03:59):
pick one or two classrooms in small
class sizes like 10 or less kids
uh we did happen to pick uh so we use
what is it Josh DRC yeah
uh the day that DRC was down this week
yep was our very first day of trying to
test I think there were a lot of people
in that boat and I think that's probably
what I think that happens every year
(04:20):
every year the start of the window DRC
crashes because everyone tries to get in
because I we we we try to do like
we tell the buildings to do the
pre-check stuff that you can do to check
you know screen resolution blah blah
blah uh I tell them that like two months
in advance and do a reminder email like
(04:41):
hey make sure you check this there's a
building Tech that can help fix those
things they're looking for the they do
that check and they're looking for the
green check marks the whole bit so they
were feeling pretty good
uh and then that building in particular
called because they're freaking out and
they're like we checked these because
that's always my first hey did you check
that Chromebook is it getting hungry
check marks that's the easy thing to
tell a teacher
um and it's always the resolution it's
(05:02):
always the kids that have messed with
the resolution it's always I agree
um you guys test early in the window we
so Chris and I it's no secret Chris and
I are in the same state
um
are we we will not start testing I think
for another week and a half
so we we ride that window till the
(05:23):
bitter and it kind of freaks me out
we've had this discussion before where
you hear you hear these horror stories
where like a squirrel or a groundhog
chews through a a fiber line and the
district loses internet for three days
that that's my fear is like we're
waiting until The Bitter End of the
testing window and like they have to be
turned in on Tuesday and we're testing
(05:45):
on Monday
my fear is that there's going to be a
badger eat through a fiber line and and
we're not gonna be able to a wild boar
oh you wild in an outbreak of an alpaca
horde goes running down the street you
know would it pick your favorite animal
uh well in our neck of woods it's the
construction vehicles that come out of
(06:06):
hibernation this time of year
and they all start digging they'll start
digging yeah people finders the giant
caterpillars and backhoes and they all
come out stretch their buckets and then
they just start digging what did you say
bucket bucket bucket and then they start
digging and then sometimes they find
(06:27):
food and sometimes they find Fiber lines
um and so that's happened to us a couple
times already sucks man yeah we've had
that happen more than more than once
yeah oh that was yeah those had a lot of
fun conversations can I say isp's name
sure
sure yeah whatever had a issue with an
(06:48):
ISP this week I I I'll I'll omit the
name you have the worst problems with
your isps uh we had we had a deal there
was some weird routing things going on
we could
we could get to this Gateway this is
kind of school related kind of not
whatever doesn't really matter
it doesn't really matter I could ping
this Gateway but couldn't actually reach
(07:08):
it it was really weird and if you were
like with if you were in-house it was
okay but externally you're on another
provider not working long story short uh
we are from Josh Schneider from Missouri
uh abbreviation is Mo
spelled am I you know uh so Spectra or
(07:30):
I'm not saying the name I forgot anyways
they thought I was in Michigan
so they did a bunch of routing junk uh
we were going Michigan trying to I don't
even know what they were doing on the
back end how does that even happen
so the the local uh Tech when he came he
called it in and he was like he put the
phone and he was like they just asked me
(07:52):
how the weather was in Michigan I'm
pretty sure I have an idea about what's
going on here
oh my gosh how how is that I don't know
and it took it took a little while still
from the because they have like here's
the five things we're gonna troubleshoot
before we're really gonna dig into it
right right uh so they're testing the
line and testing the speed and and
(08:14):
whatever five different tests before
they allowed him to get to the and this
is him talking to him you know to his
employer uh before they would let him
speak
and say like hey I think I think we got
some wrong State stuff going on he told
me he's like I'm have to I'm going to do
all this stupid stuff before they're
gonna let me uh express my opinion but
(08:35):
how's kind of fun
you know you know who that wouldn't
happen to
because they're in they're into who is
that they do audits they'll audit your G
your Google workspace absolute yes
absolute a response for the K-12 Tech
Talk podcast you looked really confused
there for a minute I was first I'm still
learning about absolute as are you as
(08:57):
are we as are the listeners talking
about the wrong vendor I just didn't
know are we who are we talking about uh
they want me to talk about
how they can help you protect against
ransomware
uh we think of ransomware we we don't
think about this but typically a lot of
people think about ransomware in
business sector land it's absolutely
(09:18):
hitting in K-12 now uh the Bad actors
they're going after us now in K-12 it's
been that way for a while uh absolute
they have a unique ransomware response
product
uh they can help you with your security
trolls to put into place
um and I'm going to put a link in the
podcast description about the ransomware
(09:39):
response uh that absolute can help you
with and we're about we're like three
weeks in with with with absolute we're
gonna keep uh Mark's favorite word we're
gonna keep unpacking a little bit about
them uh if you're paying attention go
out of your way to actually look at the
podcast description click on those links
and learn more but they're going to be
with us for like a total of six weeks so
(10:00):
towards the end of this I think we're
probably gonna do a sit-down interview
with a couple guys from absolute if you
want any information after checking them
out if you email Oliver Schmidt that's
oh Schmidt at absolute.com I'll put his
email address in the podcast description
as well it's totally childish but I
giggle like a school boy whenever you
(10:20):
say it yeah I wish you wouldn't because
I don't know how Oliver feels about that
I'm sure he hates it he's probably gonna
punch me in the throat when we have this
he listens too he's gonna send me
something about this
I feel like this is good like I think
it's great I think it's the perfect
sales rep oh yeah right people remember
it like I'm willing to remember Oliver's
name because of his email address yes
(10:43):
it was absolute a proud sponsor the K-12
Tech Talk podcast which by the way hit
50 000 downloads this week
yeah no claps nothing yay
um yes 50 000 downloads that's awesome
speaking of okay a couple comments while
you were talking I I have things going
(11:05):
in and out of my head uh if you're
paying attention off Chris you said you
made you use the phrase if you're paying
attention if you're paying attention to
these episodes count the number of times
that Chris says the word unpack or
unpacking you know I feel did you guys
have another text like were you guys
texting about me or talking about me
behind my back no no not this week did
(11:27):
you crack that joke before we started
this and then I said it and then you're
talking about it again that's what makes
me think that you've talked about we
have not talked behind your back no this
is all organic
um so yeah just count and email us or
tweet this how many times he says
unpacker unpacking
so uh you had mentioned ransomware and
what absolute can do
(11:48):
something that came up on K-12 Tech Pro
this week was
um oh K12 Tech Pro somebody yes the
vetted Community for K-12 technicians
and K-12 it directors about
um you know it like a forum a discussion
forum and there's different water cooled
posting and somebody I don't remember
the name of the person that posted this
(12:09):
but they are getting ready to do a
tabletop exercise with their school and
some leadership in their school on a
ransomware incident
and
um I
I felt like it was a good idea to unpack
that
um but my the point of this is sizza if
(12:30):
if you don't know uh Services of the
Cyber um they have several tabletops
pre-built for all of the critical
infrastructure
um everything from a third party vendor
event to local government event a
federal civilian executive branch DDOS
attack one of the things they have
excuse me one of the things they have is
(12:52):
a K-12 schools uh situation manual a
ctep such situation manual and this
walks you through a ransomware incident
in a K-12 environment it has several
different modules to it and you kind of
Step through it like a story line and uh
this is different than the one that I
(13:12):
took part in over a year ago and they
have definitely stepped their game up
they have definitely improved this
tabletop exercise I feel like it's
definitely a conversation or a scenario
that you could walk through
um with almost any leadership or any
employee in the district because you
know Chris we were talking about the
(13:32):
show or before the show about how you
know
some of the hard discussions are going
to be okay how long can you live without
a financial system how long can you live
without charging for lunch real time
those are kind of the questions that
this provides you to ask and then
develop a priority for systems to be
brought back up yeah because like that
(13:54):
particular one that they have posted
I forget the actual question but it's
like it it wants the room to have a
conversation about all the different
systems and then really dig into it like
at what point like let's talk about a
room at what point would you say High
School would you say Elementary would
you say safety director would you say
(14:14):
admin uh that we don't have school uh
how many days could we go without with
our Cooks have to do everything by hand
as far as who's eating breakfast and
who's eating lunch uh and then like that
Financial system conversation uh hey sis
admin and tech department if if our
financial system was hit how many days
would it take you to get a spec up and
(14:35):
running and he says two but then you're
looking over at the financial people and
they're like oh no we can only be down
for a day well we need to have a
conversation about this right now
because
we have our we have the ability to
promise you or to strive for two days if
you're saying one day and and okay let's
talk about this which side's winning
here or what's the compromise do we need
(14:57):
to spend more money on backups for that
particular system or are we just going
to settle we need to talk about what if
it's three days what if it's four days
uh to actually have those conversations
uh and Dancer about them and and that
particular one gave like
I forget it gets in like it's like day
one there's like an email from the FBI
blah blah and that's kind of the point
(15:18):
of the blah blah blah even is
okay counselor that came to this table
top exercise
if you get an email about FBI that talks
about ransomware do you think that
pertains to you at all or do you just
write that thing off okay you say you
write that thing off what about you
principle when you see an email like
that does that affect you at all do you
think about that okay day one you guys
think that's Tech Department's problem
(15:39):
and then it's not until it was like it's
like day nine like an employee gets
fired and again you're supposed to kind
of think through the room do we care
about as far as a cyber security threat
goes if an employee gets fired like what
precautions do we have with that and
then it really hits
uh gets bad about day 40 or whatever or
(16:00):
a ransomware attack is introduced and
you're supposed to unpack that so not
just for Tech departments to go through
the scenario
but for everyone too and I think go
ahead Mark I'm sorry
nope I was just making the motion that
he just said unpack
oh I did yep I I think it definitely
helps
(16:21):
um the non-technical people in your
District if you invite you know a
cross-platformer across
um departmental type event
um it helps those non-technical people
kind of get a glimpse into the amount of
noise that we see on a daily basis from
alerts from MSI sex is a FBI
(16:43):
um and okay how do you how do you parse
out how do you pull out the one or two
that oh
I really need to pay attention to this
one
um and then you know like in in this in
this tabletop it's something kind of out
of left field that you haven't been
alerted to that ends up happening so you
know you you have this constant and and
(17:04):
they're all valid emails are all valid
alerts but which ones do you take more
seriously than others and I think that's
a good
um those people kind of need to see that
you know I
I'm trying to get better but I struggle
with tabletops a little bit because
you're kind of supposed to like
use your imagination and like get into
it yeah and I have a hard time like the
(17:25):
one that you host to Josh yeah it was
great but I just like listening to other
people
um I just have a hard time like
I don't know like Josh Josh was like
he was like fed feelings of being under
attack when he's going through the
exercise so that's every day man if you
role play like Dungeons and Dungeons and
dragon Style
(17:46):
one person is the dungeon master I'm
like oh ransomware
well that that uh back doors and reaches
you will call and do stuff like that
yeah nice yeah so back if if you're
you've locked the ransomware
if you don't know what backdoors and
breeches is it is roll the dice to see
(18:08):
what the Bitcoin amount will be
it's it's from uh Black Hills
information security and they have made
a card game that is uh all uh not
all-encompassing but several different
threat vectors uh several uh gotchas as
as the event goes on it and you loot you
(18:29):
do legitimately
um roll dice to see how you figure
things out and how you get Beyond
certain steps and certain certain events
that are taking place they've got a
really good YouTube video on how to play
it and they their office kind of steps
through playing the game and it's it's
pretty entertaining
um that's from Black Hills information
security they are super cool they offer
(18:52):
a lot of training this is not they're
not paying us to say any of this
actually
um they offer a lot of training man
um they're super they are brilliant
people
um they they um
I bought I bought a couple T-shirts from
them so
um yeah check them out back doors and
breeches if choose character High School
(19:14):
secretary
what kind of armor does the high school
secretary have I don't know
maintenance director
hit points plus four
um
so Chris you said we had yes
(19:34):
we had some uh man we could spend an
hour just drawing up the characters I
know I'm holding back
um Chris you said we had some listener
emails why don't you we did so listener
Aaron
uh said and this has been a a little
while ago and I don't think I was around
for this episode uh but you guys
(19:55):
unpacked uh about the Chrome the net
export exploit uh you guys talked about
that on an episode
um and he spent some time messing with
that unpacking it I'm gonna keep saying
it uh found a website where you can
upload and and figure out some things uh
so he was giving us a thank you for that
(20:15):
information but also to pass along that
it's a thousand percent legit uh if that
is a real life exploit happening yeah
and remind me what what that was that
boy what was that that was something
with getting into a chrome URL or a
Chrome OS URL exporting a text file and
(20:39):
then going to a website that kind of
unhashed uh the text string that was in
that text file and it came back with the
SSID passphrase if I'm remembering right
um and yeah the afternoon that we found
it I think it was a post on Reddit or
K12 Tech Pro one of the two because
(21:01):
they're so they're so competing there
um
one of my guys uh saw it and he's like
uh yeah I just did this and this is
legit like this really does work so
um it is definitely a threat yeah and
that's something that you can block you
can block that URL you can go in the
(21:21):
Google admin and do the URL blocking on
that which probably should have already
had happened right yeah but you know
that gets back into that thing of Google
releasing settings that
I feel like they could do a much better
job of alert alerting admins to
um
and you look again like last week that
wireless setting that we changed I
didn't know that existed
(21:43):
um so I don't know that you can really
blame anyone for having not having that
blocked
I think I can tell a funny uh student
Chromebook story really quick I think
this is yeah yeah yeah I can I can
unpack this real quick
had a had a kid
um Chromebook having an issue I think it
was with his screen touch screen or
something not working brings the
(22:03):
Chromebook down uh I spend just a little
bit I'm actually the one that messes
with it do a little bit of diagnostic
stuff it's absolutely the screen so
we're gonna issue him a new Chromebook
uh so that's what's gonna happen right
so
check his stuff out it's going to go to
the library they're going to issue him a
new Chromebook he comes back later
because he saved a bunch of stuff to his
(22:25):
like the local downloads folder
on the Chromebook which is a bummer
because that stuff doesn't transfer with
you right and I can tell he's devastated
and usually when this happens the guys
kind of look at me they want because our
at our I'm located at the high school
and we have like a like a half door and
we want to be available uh to the
(22:45):
teachers to the kids uh but when when
stuff like this is happening the guys
kind of look at me because I'm going to
be the villain that says your downloads
are gone
uh so I'm saying it and I still I'm like
hey man yeah anything really important
to you you should save to your Google
Drive don't save it locally through your
downloads folder We're not gonna be able
to get that back for people to walk
because we've already tried to wipe that
Chromebook and moved on with life and
(23:06):
stuff he's devastated I can tell uh he
does a quick hand movement
um and I didn't notice this my
technician noticed this in the middle of
us talking
uh and then he's like well
my chromebook's doing this
and he had he had done the keys to make
it try to refresh like to make it have
(23:28):
like a Chrome OS error you know like
ready to be wiped uh so my technician
noticed that he so what he was trying to
do was like he was trying to get his
Chromebook back yeah uh very smart but
then we just reset it and told him he's
good to go
but he was trying
he was trying
good good story great story yeah
(23:50):
uh so what's our name what's our next
listener email
oh
you bring me down and bring me back up
another listener email from Mike uh
talking about the three-year episode I
don't think I was around for this one
either I think it was it was uh intern
it was Eric the intern I mean let's
(24:11):
let's face it you probably we could
consider you part-time for the last two
months three months I don't know what's
been going on
anyway he said somehow I hadn't heard
your podcast until fairly recently and
I'm really enjoying it a lot so far your
episode about about it being three years
since everything closed down uh really
resonated with me as it marked a huge
moment in my life my wife and I had
(24:34):
welcomed our first child into the world
shortly after the lockdown and then he
just goes on to unpack just how crazy uh
it was during that time he told us
things for uh our work and to keep it up
but an interesting listening to that
episode that you guys did I don't know
if that's is that trauma that we have
with that time or just these memories
(24:56):
hit really hard we can instantly like
think back about what life was like I
think during that time trauma yeah I was
thinking about talking about Google
admin stuff I got all kinds of
ous in there I need to clean up that was
like on the Fly
virtual learning things we were doing
that I need to go back and do cleanup of
my tech stuff still
(25:16):
I remember spin up a Google site for our
virtual Learners in a day my department
was like what are you doing building the
website and I was like I had to do it
guys and our final listener email which
will I think uh interesting yes so
listener
h
we'll go with that I am proposing to our
(25:39):
Administration that we shut off our
public facing CIS in the late evenings
and weekends to help protect against
possible cyber attacks older
Administration doesn't understand and
they want to keep things running
and that means that people of course at
1am will have access what are your
(25:59):
thoughts on something like this
um I would really like to power these
things off uh to have the bad guys have
some disadvantage
Mark uh yeah I had it I hadn't thought
about that uh and I think my gut
reaction to that was like well that just
seems a little maybe unnecessary like
(26:19):
why bother doing that I mean and I guess
it all depends on how you're going to do
it when you say powering off that just
seems like it's a recipe for disaster
when you have to power things back on
the morning
um but you know the more they think
about it you know we're we're right now
planning for spring break and we're
going through kind of buttoning down the
hatches and looking for you know as we
start to go and and go migrate away from
(26:41):
our systems for the next week and we
have less eyes looking at things we're
battening down the hatches and starting
to figure out what are the things we
need to clean up
um
so it does kind of make sense like
taking that on a smaller level you know
you're not in your student information
system in the middle of the night you
don't have a legitimate business need to
be there
um so I kind of see that I I do see the
(27:02):
value in saying there's no need for us
to have a system up and active in the
middle tonight when all of us are asleep
why not take it offline
um to reduce risk can I
take a Counterpoint to that you can yeah
so Mark you're dumb
um I know I know yeah
(27:23):
no the only the only concern that I
would have with that would be I know we
have teachers that grade things later in
the evening
um so I think finding that time that you
either have a firewall rule that kicks
in and disables external access or you
have a scheduled task that shuts the box
down
(27:43):
I think you're gonna have to try and
find that sweet spot you know is it is
it 11 o'clock at night is it midnight is
it 1am and then when does it come back
on because I know when I pull into the
office at 6 50 in the morning there's
teachers that have beat me there so yeah
at what time do you do you bring that
stuff back up I
(28:04):
I understand the idea of it but I almost
wonder if you're not
you're not bringing more headache onto
um we a couple years ago we took the
step of creating a scheduled task that
shut down machines on Friday nights and
I just did it because it no one reboots
their machines like I know for a fact if
(28:25):
if we don't do this there's going to be
machines in my district that have been
up for 174 days since the first day of
school
so but some people had the idea well you
know if they're powered off they can't
be hit well yeah that that's true but
that's not that's not the big push while
I was why I was doing that
um I think there is validity to the
(28:45):
statement I just think
it would be a it would be a tough
conversation yeah no I I'm not I'm kind
of indifferent on this one I mean I
think we're we're
right now looking at you know summer
vacation as you start to get to summer
vacation one of the big things that you
need to do to prepare for summer
vacation you know that's when if you
look at some of these big attacks La was
(29:06):
a great example where they were hit at 8
pm on the Friday night before Labor Day
weekend and you start to look at other
districts getting hit they're getting
hit on Thursday nights Friday nights
before Easter weekend before spring
break so I do think that there is is
validity in saying when we don't need a
system
um we know that our attackers are going
to hit us when we're down when we're not
(29:26):
looking and they know when we're asleep
um I don't know I mean really on how you
do that how you implement that I think
really needs to be cared for otherwise
you're going to make a whole lot more
work for yourself if it does not come
back automatically and you got to
imagine there's always going to be
somebody that wakes up before you oh
yeah and is going to go to the sis so if
(29:46):
you don't have it set where you can have
that on at a reasonable hour
and I honestly I think 5 a.m would be
the latest I'd have it come back on
um
at least in my district I know we have
people uh at work
um shortly after five
yeah and you have to do it in a way that
does not depend on you otherwise you're
you're going to kill yourself when
(30:07):
people start knocking on your door in
the middle or in the early morning so
you guys um like you're you're like your
homes
do you leave your front doors unlocked
no no no do you ever leave your front
doors
open overnight I mean I thought the
answer to the first question would solve
(30:27):
that it's locked but it's a long Mark
yeah yeah no we lock our doors and we
just leave them wide open
um no I grew up in an area where we
never never locked the door once we go
on vacation and never lock the door yeah
but where I am now I gotta lock it
um
yeah so just quickly another thought
(30:47):
that comes in my head is a
a parent that works Night Shift
that wants to check their students
grades you know I I think
there would be a whole lot of use cases
that you're gonna we'll end up
generating a call if you try to do that
I would like if listener H ended up
doing this
I would like to hear back he's not gonna
(31:08):
you called him you called Mark dumb
therefore you called listener H Dom I
was just being I was trying to have a
debate with Mark uh yeah and I was
agreeing with h and I got called dumb
man it wasn't even my idea uh I would
like to hear back that if the if H did
implement this how has it gone how how
did people take it
(31:29):
um have parents have have you know
members of the community said anything
about it
um it would be an interesting case study
I think and I mean maybe we're going to
get to the point where in cyber
insurance
so listener h i was slow to uh reply to
him on the email
(31:51):
so I was just I was like I think he
emailed back oh gosh and he did
um he said if you want some feedback
this wasn't planned this is great he
said I actually did the cyst shutdown uh
as a test weekends only at first
starting Friday night I opened it to
(32:12):
every night without saying anything to
anyone I moved all other servers to this
policy basically in the middle of the
next month uh to date I have had one PE
teacher on a Friday night who was at
home watching a movie eating pizza and
the side of the hop on and enter in his
grades off hours I've had one student
ask about getting into his grades from
(32:34):
home after hours uh both cases they were
uh isolated incidences and no one else
asked or complained uh once I mentioned
the hours of operation uh both have been
satisfied and moved on both of those
that that teacher and that student he
said I think I'm gonna leave it as it is
for right now uh it was really not a big
(32:57):
deal and honestly there might be two or
three people that actually access it
over hours you know yeah
well okay so if not shutting the system
down what else can you do to prepare for
that time when you're you're away what
are you going to do over a long weekend
or before spring break because
everybody's going on spring break or
they just came back from spring break so
(33:17):
what are those things that you can do
to prepare for that that unattended time
period you know it not a server thing
but desktops you could you could ask
teachers to shut your their machines
down Mark like you've said kind of kill
off any non-critical systems that are
tapping the web for anything put in a
rule that says you know these the print
server can't get out of the web or you
(33:39):
know but again how much work are you
going to go to on the front side to just
come back a week later and undo it
I I don't know
um is it worthwhile probably is it going
to protect you yeah
I don't know yeah I think it yeah I
think you're on something there too I
think it could really depend on
like okay the three of us considering
(34:01):
this if if we then went to our our Tech
departments and we talked through how we
would accomplish this if it's kind of
easy to accomplish okay sure let's do it
that's that's easy fruit if it's gonna
be hard let's leave that one up on the
tree like whatever easy fruit let's pick
something else yeah here's here's what I
would do before you get to a long
(34:23):
weekend rather than shutting the sis
down or shutting down a system down go
through the admin accounts go through
this this admin accounts see if you've
got any gray hairs that need to be
trimmed off
um if you've got somebody that only
needs you know district-wide or or a
high level access on occasion maybe you
suspend their account or remove that
(34:43):
access for the long weekend I mean
that's obviously that's a lot more
manual work inside every procedure that
shuts the system down but I would rather
you know start to trim down the the
Stray or Dorman accounts that's a more
likely thing that's going to happen is a
dormant account is going to be taken
over and use when you're not looking
um I you know I refer to them as sleeper
(35:03):
accounts if I'm if I'm a threat actor
I'm gonna go in I'm gonna set us a
sleeper account in in place and then um
that's what the account is that I'm
going to use that night so rather than
shut the system down I would say your
long weekends your Spring Breaks that's
your chance to kind of give yourself a
little bit of a trim and and and go
through your assist admin accounts your
(35:24):
high level domain admins
and I think too most most next-gen
firewalls have schedule based or that I
think you could you could create a like
we do this with wireless we shut down
our guest Network at four o'clock in the
evening and it doesn't come back on
until seven o'clock the next morning
that's easy to do with Aruba Wireless
(35:47):
I think you could do the same thing with
a Florida gate firewall and do a
time-based rule that would kill
external access for several of your
servers or even all of your servers you
know name Ade print files you know
whatever
um speaking of Florida gate in Fortinet
Chris Fortinet podcast at fortinet.com
(36:10):
email them let them know that you heard
about them from us you can even just
email them and say hi and if you're
looking for a firewall if you're looking
for some EDR if you're looking for
whatever
border has a ton of products we we know
that four to everything so email
fortinetpodcast fortinet.com
order everything let's talk about New
(36:31):
Hampshire we're going to New Hampshire
soon
the New Hampshire CTO Clinic all three
of us going to be there in person Mark
do you want to talk about the keynote
that we get to do
it is a retrospect some of the Lessons
Learned uh so it's going to be a really
exciting look back at what are the
challenges that we had to go through
(36:52):
during cobit and what are the things
that have changed our jobs and and the
way we do things but also how do we use
those to think about the future we've
got new technologies coming up on on us
really quickly like Ai and uh how do we
make sure that AI does not take over us
before we get a chance to actually
understand what it's going to do and how
it's going to change our districts so
(37:14):
that'll be a little bit of fun we need
the help of seats right
um that's in New Hampshire but anyone up
in New England can attend
yeah it's gonna be fun come on up it's
going to be Mark said it's going to be
exciting so bring your popcorn
um and Mark would know because he's the
one writing the Keynote
yes uh
I don't think there is AI networking
(37:37):
equipment yet but I think who will
develop it first will be extreme
networks don't you think Chris yeah D
mayor to extremnetworks.com hit that guy
up uh and also talking about K-12 Tech
Pro there's a new article from Eric the
intern on there about all the free
training if your e-rate season is coming
(37:58):
to a close maybe you're starting to get
your new networking gear in extreme
networks is one of the ones listed that
they give free training so if you got
new switches and you're not sure how to
config them you can go to K12 Tech Pro
click on that free articles article
free articles article free tools article
uh and extreme networks the link to
(38:19):
their free training is listed there and
email D mayor extremnetworks.com
alrighty and we appreciate them being on
um
it's eval season do you guys so we've
had to do or I had to do evals for my uh
two employees you guys I know you guys
get reviewed and evals from whoever
you're whoever
(38:40):
um I'm assuming you do evals I do
uh I usually do one formal one a year
and then one I call informal it's more
just laid back
um
both have the same like the sheet that I
give is the same yeah but I always say
one doesn't really count it's just more
making sure that uh it's it's really a
(39:02):
lot of most of the time uh it's my
chance to communicate well that I think
they're doing a good job and to say some
of those things that I don't say daily
or even weekly to them or maybe
sometimes monthly to them it's a good
check on that it's even a good time just
to talk about projects going on and
uh cross training opportunities
sometimes I like to unpack that but yeah
(39:25):
twice a year basically yeah unpack I'm
gonna work on that guys I'm gonna work
on that and I think it's a good chance
to you know rather than waiting till the
end of the year one one per year
um you can address things a little
sooner if something needs to be
addressed you can address it halfway
through a changer so yeah definitely
(39:46):
um think about be doing your evals for
your Tech staff revision Data Solutions
across sponsorical Tech Talk podcast
reach out to Ryan rothkoff a provision
data Solution that's all I got bro all
right
that's all I'm gonna unpack tonight
Mark anything else
I got nothing now yeah nothing so we
meet we got one more time and then we're
(40:07):
gonna be in person is that what's going
on what's the oh
we got two or three more times oh
yeah we got two more times and then that
final week I will be going to Dallas
for vex robotics competition with my
middle schoolers
we're gonna kick butt on the world stage
(40:27):
and then I'm leaving from Dallas to meet
Mark at an airport
in Boston
been working on that
and then Josh you're gonna show up like
an hour after me yep Mark are we just
gonna sit on a bench like in the airport
no I'm gonna I'm gonna take you like a
like it's a place I'm gonna take you in
an hour oh yeah I want to be dead before
(40:49):
you get there Josh
the airport's right in the middle of
town so like it's gonna pop out
live it up and then come back and get
Josh could you bring me to Mark
Wahlberg's childhood home
yeah we could do that we can do that I'm
a big fan of him and also the New Kids
on the Block
(41:10):
Joey McIntyre's house maybe
you know do you know where that's at
where where is this going we have them
all in our assists it's kind of
interesting do you really yeah yeah
Josh can you name one New Kids on the
Block song uh
um
he probably does they probably have to
(41:32):
sing him instead of the national anthem
there they sing new
um
oh the right stuff there we go oh yeah
Mark can you sing that really quick
I if I did I might like screw up and do
the Weird Al version what was the other
one or maybe that was that one oh yeah
that was uh uh oh
(41:55):
um all right we will I guess we'll see
you next week thanks for listening first
time was the best time second time
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