On March 9th, the MassCyberCenter’s Resiliency Manager, Meg Speranza, presented to the METAA Cybersecurity Pre-Conference on the importance of strengthening cybersecurity posture through cyber incident response planning. Meg was joined by Susan Noyes, Acting Director of the EOTSS Office of Municipal and School Technology, and Sergeant Edward Keefe from the Massachusetts State Police/Commonwealth Fusion Center.

Over ninety K-12 school technology administrators from public and private schools combined attended the sessions. The presentation opened with information about cyber threats to Massachusetts schools, followed by a lesson on cyber incident response planning. Susan Noyes emphasized the EOTSS Employee Cybersecurity Awareness Training Grant Program and other Commonwealth Resources for cybersecurity and Sergeant Keefe stressed the importance of contacting law enforcement when a cyber incident occurs. Attendees then participated in a short tabletop exercise to emphasize the importance of having a cyber incident response plan. 

“Cyber incident response planning can be overwhelming,” said Ms. Speranza. “But the most important thing is to get started and do a little bit at a time.” Resources to help, including a cyber incident response plan template and webinar guiding you through the process, can be found here.

Note that EOTSS' Employee Cybersecurity Awareness Training Grant program is accepting applications for the "Abbreviated 2 Training Track", which will run September-December. Applications are being accepted until July 15th, 2023. Learn more here.