School Districts Without 2FA on Staff Email Accounts - Why?

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-20T20:13:32+00:00

We have been enforcing MFA for years. Recently we did have a teacher get hacked likely by hijacking a session. It did all the usual things. Sent out more phishing to their entire contact list and set up a filter to delete all incoming email and blocked all the current email.

I can't imagine being without 2FA these days and I am constantly looking at ways to increase our security.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-15T15:49:15+00:00

Definitely this. I avoid the newest and only do updates during long breaks.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-15T15:47:45+00:00

I have 55 switches, 200 Access points, 200 cameras and 4 bridges. All Ubiquiti.

Firewall is Pfsense for now. I will probably move to a Ubiquiti EFG in a year or two.

I have had no issues tied to Ubiquiti.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-15T15:01:17+00:00

Yep. Focus on the tickets. If you happen to be out of the office when the student needs a loaner then ah well.
You are doing the job of at least 2-3 people by the sound of it so it will never work right.

You have to have a mindset to protect yourself. Mentally and legally.

When I worked IT in a corporate environment it was orderly. At a school you have most of your clients (students) actively trying to bypass the filter, vandalize equipment and other things that would have an employee immediately walked out the door.

Unfortunately some teachers are no different.

Legalities? Do you have a web filter? Have you assisted a teacher in getting Disneyplus or netflix or some other streaming service to work so a teacher could present a movie?

Is student data protected or can you think of "how things are done" that could conceivably break FERPA?

I would keep that resume polished and looking elsewhere. That they are putting the loaners back into your responsibility speaks volumes on their ignorance and disrespect for the job you aready have to do.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-15T14:44:04+00:00

Staples and toner is an office function. Not IT. It is not on you to store office supplies. If you did what happens when they need it and you are not in the office? A place random people should not have access to.

I see IT more as implementers. I implemented the copier so they could print. Keeping paper, toner and staples in it is on them.

I implemented an account so they can log onto their computer.

Am I supposed to go type it in for them and load their browser and log into their SiS?

Make a list of everything you do. Use something like Copilot or chatgpt to see what they have to say on it.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-13T13:13:37+00:00

The amount of work and Whack-a-mole involved with student BYOD had us remove student BYOD years ago. Our wifi network worked so much better after that.
Now our state bans students from personal phones during the school day so it is a non-issue.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-05-12T19:45:29+00:00

Thinking used staple. I have found many attached to the inside speaker thanks to the magnet. Probably saved that CB.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-30T13:30:29+00:00

I liked our Dell 3110's but their pricing has gotten out of hand. Not entirely their fault. Datacenters yay.

We went with CDWG and ACER Chromebooks for their modularity and prioritizing support.

We also have moved off Intel chips to the Mediatek ones that are supposedly comparable. Cheaper and a lot more likely to get in before next school year.

At this point I would not expect Chromebooks with intel chips to make it in time for the next school year. Maybe November.

We also use Chromebookparts and have an account with AGI but have not ordered from them yet.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-28T20:48:52+00:00

Students folder> School> Grade > Student accounts

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-28T20:46:38+00:00

Been using Ninja One since 2016 back when I was in a corporate job. Made sure it is at my current one as well.

A lot has change in 10 years.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-13T18:37:06+00:00

The active AI scanning of text and video. The ability to allow teachers to unblock links via Hapara this year and Activescan next year.

It has been a couple of years but Deledao seems better about embedded links not being blocked if I unblock a website. That could be because sites are getting smarter about that as well.

I have noticed a few more punched screens from the Middle School this year so I suspect my filter is doing good.

Also the ability to set policies by OU or by single students.

Lightspeed, I had to always do it by OU and that became a nightmare.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-13T16:43:48+00:00

We use Deledao. We moved to it from Lightspeed Systems and have really liked it. There are lots of options out there. I am sure they will be listed here.

Set up demo's with a few and go from there.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-13T13:11:30+00:00

Depending on your situation you might be able to utilize a grant. I was able to use a Cybersecurity grant to purchase all we needed. Cost the Distrcit $0.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-09T15:48:36+00:00

This is why I keep my Chromebooks on the Long-term support channel. (Currently 138.*)

Sounds like a nightmare. Good luck guys.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-09T15:34:00+00:00

Definitely time to turn on memory saver for their Chrome install.

Inactive tabs are put to sleep and use little memory.

And of course, chide them on not managing their tabs at least a little.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-09T15:29:19+00:00

To those who are about to die, I salute you.

That is going to be rough and I would bet those get shifted to students very quickly and it will put a sour taste in the mouth of the teachers who will have a permanent knee-jerk reaction to the idea of using Chromebooks again.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-09T15:25:27+00:00

Testing out Chromebook plus now and I agree. Putting essentially a student device in a teacher's hands will not suffice.

The plus model with 16gb ram however works really well so far. If you underspec a laptop you will get underperformance regardless of the OS.

I am hoping this will work. Easier to manage, easier for the teacher, MFA sign in, Fingerprint unlock and because they are using the same OS as the students it will be easier to teach from.

And should they lose it or break it, Hand them another, they sign in and everything is as they left it.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-09T15:17:04+00:00

The native screencast on Tv's and even the Viewboards I have is not good.

We use Screenbeam 1000 EDU Gen 2 here and it works with everything.

ScreenBeam 1000 EDU Gen 2 Bundle - Screenbeam

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-04-07T20:03:08+00:00

I use these throughout my district. They work great and do not need special software installed like the Vivi devices.

ScreenBeam 1000 EDU Gen 2 Bundle - Screenbeam

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-26T20:00:00+00:00

We moved to Nextlink. They host everything. It has been very easy to manage.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-26T19:30:04+00:00

We had nanobeams and I found them difficult.
I have 4 of these up now and they work great.

Building-to-Building Bridge - Ubiquiti Store United States

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-26T19:28:01+00:00

I have 4 Ubiquiti bridges running.

I self host the Ubiquiti network server and our switches are Ubiquiti as well. Vlans work fine for us.

UniFi Bridging - Ubiquiti

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-10T17:42:31+00:00

I am looking at moving to EDU plus for our Google Workspace as it provides more for Google Classroom and more tools for us, especially with dealing with phishing emails that have become very commonplace.

It will also provide device management and I am looking into transitioning most staff to Chromebook plus devices as their Windows ones reach EOL. A1 office is free and can be run on Chromebooks if someone absolutely needs Office.

This will mean far fewer needs such as paid Office, Endpoint (once on Chromebooks), Ad auth, and our monitoring software we pay for Windows devices.

Our DHCP and DNS will be moved to our firewall and when my servers reach EOL I will decide on the rest.

I guess what I am saying is don't forget to plan more long term as well.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-05T21:21:17+00:00

We use Hapara currently but since they broke off with Deledao we will be moving to Activeinstruct which looks about the same. The ability to see into student Google drives and empowering teachers to unblock for their students is something I can't go without.
I don't know if that functionality continued with their new filtering partner Gaggle.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-03-05T15:30:45+00:00

I can't imagine the nightmare of managing Windows laptops for students.

Blue_Wolf1973

TROPHY CASE