{"id":199638,"date":"2026-03-27T07:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/cybersecurity-expert-offers-advice-after-lccc-it-disruption\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T07:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:15:14","slug":"cybersecurity-expert-offers-advice-after-lccc-it-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/cybersecurity-expert-offers-advice-after-lccc-it-disruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity expert offers advice after LCCC ‘IT disruption’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cybersecurity expert offers advice after LCCC ‘IT disruption’<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/03\/27\/as-questions-linger-about-lehigh-carbon-community-colleges-handling-of-it-disruption-a-cybersecurity-expert-offers-advice\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-27 07:02:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.mcall.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Lehigh Carbon Community College has reopened its campuses but a reported \u201cIT disruption\u201d that started nearly a month ago \u2014 which a school trustee labeled a data breach \u2014 has continued to affect internet and phone systems, leaving students and staff with unanswered questions about how best to protect themselves.
\nJoseph Squillace, an associate professor in Penn State\u2019s department of privacy and cybersecurity informatics, offered perspective on what makes educational institutions vulnerable to cyberattacks and how students and staff can protect themselves:
\nWhy are schools vulnerable to cyberattacks?
\nCollege students are profitable targets for hackers, Squillace said. Young adult students tend to have \u201cbrand new clean credit reports\u201d that mean hackers can take advantage of students\u2019 personal data to take out loans, open credit cards or commit health insurance fraud.
\nIt also should not be underestimated how much valuable research and development data can be accessed through community college systems.<\/p>\n

While top-tier research institutions might appear to be more attractive targets for hackers seeking access to cutting edge technology and research data, community colleges also handle large amounts of state-sponsored research and tend to have lower IT budgets and fewer cybersecurity protections, Squillace said.
\nHow can students and staff protect themselves?
\nProactive \u201cdigital hygiene\u201d is the key to protecting your data, even in the case of a system breach that might expose your personal information, Squillace said. Here are some tips:
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t reuse passwords for multiple accounts. Consider a password manager \u2014 but be careful to research whether or not that application stores your passwords in the cloud, as those systems are also vulnerable to hackers. Password managers that store data on a users\u2019 individual device are more secure.
\n\u2022 Change passwords as soon as possible when notified of a potential breach. Even if a students\u2019 school account is compromised, they can protect bank accounts and other sensitive accounts by promptly changing passwords on those accounts and setting up notifications to ensure that suspicious activity is flagged.
\n\u2022 Set up two-factor authentication whenever possible, especially on sensitive accounts. This is an important way to prevent access that also ensures account holders receive notice if someone else tries to access their account.
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t forget to change the passwords on the applications that are linked under your school single-sign-on account. Applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Canvas, Moodle and Quizlet can all offer hackers an easy way to use a third-party site to access the data in your school account.
\n\u2022 Be careful with your social media footprint. Posts that reveal your personal habits, such as where you like to hang out on the weekend, can make social media users vulnerable to social engineering attacks in which a bad actor uses personal information to make their communications sound more genuine and up the odds that a phishing or scam attempt will succeed.
\n\u2022 Exercise extreme caution when clicking on links delivered through text or email. Hover over the link to determine where it is directing you. Recognize that IT departments and legitimate organizations like banks will not ask you to confirm or edit your password information via text, email or phone call.
\n\u2022 Avoid public Wi-Fi. The use of public Wi-Fi networks makes your data vulnerable to hackers. A community college campus that is physically open to the public is particularly vulnerable to bad actors who could easily access campus in order to set up \u201cevil twin\u201d networks that capture data being sent over public Wi-Fi.
\n\u2022 If using your own hotspots, make sure they are password protected (and don\u2019t allow others to access your hotspots unless you specifically share the password with them). This could be a large issue at LCCC, as emails sent to students told students to be prepared to use their personal devices when returning to campuses that did not yet have restored Wi-Fi.
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t use pirated software. Free textbook downloads or \u201ccracked\u201d applications that offer free versions of popular software are tempting for college students, Squillace said, but should be avoided as they may be infected with viruses or malware.
\n\u2022 Freeze your credit bureau accounts. This is free and does not prevent you from accessing credit, but rather means you will be notified if someone else tries to take out a loan or open a credit card using your information.
\nWhy don\u2019t schools disclose attacks?
\nState law requires public institutions, including schools, to disclose data breaches that could cause harm, but there are several reasons why a school might delay notification, limit what is disclosed or decline to confirm a cyberattack, Squillace said.
\nSchools that don\u2019t confirm suspected data breaches may have never received the kind of \u201cproof of life\u201d ransomware demands that prove a hacker is actually in possession of a school\u2019s data, Squillace said.
\nWithout any kind of concrete evidence of what data fell into hackers\u2019 hands, it can be extremely difficult to determine how long hackers might have had access to a system and what data was viewed or downloaded, Squillace added.
\nThe lack of certainty around how long bad actors had access to a system can also make it hard to decide which backup versions to restore, Squillace said.<\/p>\n

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