Focus this month | Is your School September Ready?
Summer - the Busiest Time of Year for School IT Teams?
The summer holidays might be edging closer, but for anyone responsible for a school's IT infrastructure, September has a habit of arriving even quicker.
New students, new staff, updated systems and a fresh wave of devices all landing at once can be a lot to manage. And with cyber threats against the education sector on the rise, getting your technology in order before the new academic year begins is no longer something you can leave until the last minute.
At OX IT Solutions, we appreciate this is a busy time of year for school ICT and network teams. We work with organisations across the UK to make sure their IT is secure, well-managed and ready to perform when it matters. Here is what every school should be thinking about before the start of term.
Cybersecurity: the threat is real, and schools are a target
Schools hold a significant amount of sensitive data, such as student records, staff information and financial details, and cyber criminals know it.
Phishing and ransomware attacks are becoming more common in the education sector, and the consequences of a breach can be serious both operationally and reputationally.
Robust endpoint security across every device on your network is one of the most important things you can have in place before September.
We work with industry-leading partners including WatchGuard and ESET to provide endpoint protection that keeps threats out without slowing your systems down, and when combined with network security solutions, you have a much stronger baseline going into the new term.
For schools that want to go a step further, Cyber Essentials certification is well worth considering. It is a government-backed scheme that helps organisations demonstrate a basic level of cybersecurity, and we can guide you through the whole process from assessment to accreditation.
Data protection and backup: what happens if something goes wrong?
No security setup is bulletproof, which is why backup and recovery planning matters just as much as your defences.
If a ransomware attack gets through, or a system fails at the worst possible time, whether that becomes a manageable incident or a serious crisis often comes down to how well your data is protected and how quickly you can restore it.
Using Acronis, we provide cloud backup and recovery solutions that protect your data continuously and allow for fast restoration when needed. For schools handling pupil and staff data, this also ties directly into your GDPR obligations. You need to be able to demonstrate that data is stored securely and can be recovered if lost.
MDR: security monitoring that never switches off
One of the biggest challenges for schools is that IT teams are often small, sometimes just one or two people covering everything. Round-the-clock threat monitoring is practically impossible without additional support, and that is where Managed Detection and Response (MDR) comes in.
MDR provides continuous monitoring of your environment by a dedicated security operations team, identifying and responding to threats in real time rather than waiting for someone to notice something has gone wrong.
For schools where the IT team might be stretched across helpdesk support, hardware management and everything in between, it is one of the most valuable services you can add to your setup.
Hardware, software, infrastructure upgrades and refreshes
The summer break gives IT teams the crucial downtime needed to perform essential maintenance and upgrades without disrupting daily lessons.
Head of Tech Support at OX IT, Jon Townsend, highlights key areas that often require focus:
“We find that schools use the summer break to look at Hardware and Infrastructure refreshes, whether that is servicing servers, upgrading WiFi coverage, or rolling out new laptops, interactive whiteboards, or just replacing old equipment. Many schools use the summer to update school operational software, or to perform data rollovers too. Then of course, they test everything well before the first day of term.”
Get ahead of September now
The summer period is the ideal time to review your IT and security setup, carry out any upgrades and make sure everything is in good shape before staff and students return. The longer you leave it, the narrower the window gets.
Our team offers a free remote cybersecurity review – a practical starting point for understanding where your gaps might be.
Get in touch with OX IT Solutions today to discuss your requirements and the solutions available to you.
