(03/03/2023) As cybersecurity continues to be a growing concern for school districts nationwide, the Anoka-Hennepin technology and information department is currently engaged in an email phishing training campaign for staff.

District technology has partnered with Infosec IQ, a cybersecurity training company, to conduct research over the last several weeks and concluded that 28% of Anoka-Hennepin staff clicked on links in test phishing emails (no sensitive data was collected during this test). 

Results from our recent phishing campaign indicate that we need your help to fortify our data security defenses and protect staff and student data. In partnership with Infosec IQ, Anoka-Hennepin is launching Cyber Security Awareness Month during the month of March. The “March Madness” plan includes:

• Security training. 
• Additional phishing simulations.
• Google two-factor verification.
• Password changes.
• Removal of local admin rights on computers. 

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility and with these additional steps, technology hopes to reduce our phishing email fail rate to zero.

In the next several weeks, all district employees will receive an email from AH Cybersecurity Notifications (CyberSecurity@ahschools.us) with the subject line “Start Your Security Awareness Training.” This is not spam. Included in this email is a recommended training course consisting of four short videos. Please take the time this month to review and complete the training to improve your cybersecurity knowledge to protect yourself both at home and at work. Please complete the training by March 31, 2023.

Going forward, the district will continue to simulate phishing emails to determine how well staff are improving at identifying the conditions of an email designed to encourage unsafe behaviors. If staff interact with phishing emails, additional training may be recommended.

Please continue to read the weekly “In the Know” staff e-newsletter for updates on upcoming cybersecurity initiatives, including Google 2-step verification and password changes.