Dispelling Myths About Multi-Factor Authentication in K12
Organized by K12 SIX
June 24, 2021
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Join a panel of K12 IT practitioners for a free morning of virtual professional development as they share their unique perspectives on MFA implementation, including how they have dispelled MFA myths, overcome objections, and made the switch to MFA manageable for their school communities.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA), a cybersecurity control that requires you to present two different types of evidence to prove you are eligible to sign into an account – something you know (like a password), something you can access (like a code provided by a device you possess), or something you have (like a fingerprint). Widely recommended as a best practice, implementation of MFA has, however, lagged in the K12 sector. Common objections to implementing MFA in schools includes the myths that:
Passwords alone are good enough for K12 IT systems
Teachers and staff won’t support MFA implementation
MFA is too expensive to implement
MFA is too complicated and time-consuming for K12 organizations to implement
Panelists
Myles Allen, Project Manager, Corona Norco Unified School District (CA)
April Mardock, CISSP, Chief Information Security Officer and Operations Manager, Seattle (WA) Public Schools
Bill Patterson, Network Security Analyst, Ingham Intermediate School District (MI)
Anthony Roberts, Information Security Analyst, Kansas City (MO) Public Schools
K-12 Security Information Exchange (K12 SIX) is a new national non-profit dedicated solely to helping protect public and private K-12 schools from cybersecurity threats. Visit www.k12six.org to learn more.