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Tag: emergencyplanning

Pandemic Planning for Your Community

Pandemic Planning for Your Community

In the wake of this outbreak, many of us have begun asking questions about our role in COVID-19 awareness and prevention. As a school safety company, the nSide team is always here to help communities amid crisis situations. We understand that this is a concerning and stressful time for many, so we’ve put together a review of CDC recommendations that is applicable to both school systems and community members alike.

As of today (March 24, 2020 at 3:00 pm), there are 44,183 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, and 196 confirmed cases in the state of Alabama. Click here to see the coordinating list of confirmed cases, per county, in Alabama. 

List of symptoms and emergency warning signs provided by the CDC:

These symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure (based on the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses).

  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath

If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 get medical attention immediately. Emergency warning signs include*:

  • Trouble breathing
  • Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
  • New confusion or inability to arouse
  • Bluish lips or face

Household Planning

Along with awareness of symptoms, the CDC recommends creating a household plan. In the event that you or someone you live with falls ill, it’s best to be prepared in advance. Designate a sick room or space, where you can safely quarantine with low risk of physical contact with others. It’s suggested that two weeks worth of over the counter medications and food are stocked, along with a process for having food delivered if possible. Guidelines also advise arranging any needs for communication among friends and family, as well as organizing childcare plans if needed. In addition to preparing your surroundings, it is necessary to take proper care of emotional health and communicate with others if you begin to feel a decline take place. Isolation due to quarantine can lead to anxious or depressive moods, so establishing emotional support is equally as important as assembling your household plan.These strategies are simple in nature but far-reaching in any effort to care for your home.

In addition to this, the CDC recommends we actively engage in social distancing. Many of us are in current practice of this and abstain from groups of people or large gatherings of any sort. But if you’re wondering how much social distancing does for you and those around you, their guidance would encourage you to consider the rapid pace at which coronavirus has spread. It is never our desire to evoke fear or panic for anyone, however we do recognize that grasping the communicable nature of this illness is a crucial element to pandemic planning. Maintaining this practice and limiting physical contact is one of the most significant things you can do to support any plan. As unfortunate as it feels at times, social distancing is in fact the best way to care for your friends and loved ones right now.

Pandemic Planning for Schools

The CDC also stresses that pandemic planning be assessed as seriously as the day-to-day management of warning signs. Remaining informed about the local coronavirus situation is one of the most critical steps that your schools can take to properly recover from this pandemic. With oncoming news and school closures extending each day, maintaining awareness and a consistent stream of communication with your team is a foundational piece of your school’s plan of action.

Likewise, it’s essential that your faculty continues to communicate with households as often as they receive new information. Once ensured that information is factual and from a reliable source, it needs to be distributed as quickly and sensitively as possible among guardians. In crafting this circle of communication among school communities, you have the opportunity to effectively carry out a culture for school safety within your district.

Finally, as you aim to respond and recover from this event, the students and children in your home should remain the central concern. Adjusting to a new routine and new learning experience can be difficult for many children to take on. As any educator knows, a large portion of caring for students goes beyond their education. Partnering with public health officials to maintain health and meal services for students, while publicly announcing the implementation of these projects, will bolster the support system for many students at home.

Our team is always here to assist you in emergency situations, and we recognize that this pandemic is unique to any experience we’ve had in recent years. Although we can’t be sure of what’s to come, our priority for maintaining your school’s safety is unwavering. We will continue seeking innovative ways to build up this community and provide you with relevant, accurate information to come. As always, if we can be of further assistance to you please feel free to reach out at help@nside.io. If there is anything else we can do to help you cope with these transitions, please do not hesitate to connect with our team.

Links to Relevant Resources

Last week, we released links to our S2:E1 Podcast, School Pandemic Resources Page, Pandemic Planning Assessment, and Public Health Planning folders within the nSide platform. These resources are available with the intent to guide your next-steps and encourage you along the way. We ask that you contact us at resources@nside.io for any questions or additional materials you might find helpful!

March 24, 2020
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Cybersecurity Month: School Approach

Cybersecurity Month: School Approach

In light of October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NACM), we feel that acknowledging the risks of educational data storing is of imminent concern. In every school district and local institution, there is a dependency on systems to protect the privacy of students and staff. Disregarding potential threat and proper response, is likely to leave your institution vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches or attacks. We understand the reliance and necessity of these data systems for daily school functions, and we desire to help our community better plan for the protection of their educational content. We hope to share a few helpful insights as to what cybersecurity means for your schools, how to craft preventive habits, and why the merge of this practice into your Emergency Operation Plans is crucial. 

Threat Awareness

When approaching cybersecurity, it’s important to note that these threats are occurring more frequently between K-12 schools. This is, in part, is due to growth in digitalization of school administrative tasks and coursework. However, many schools fall victim to cybersecurity without initial realization. Taking time to consider the very real possibility of an attack, and what it means to your school specifically, will help in the discipline of maintaining well-monitored schools. So, what do these threats look like? They manifest in a multitude of ways, but listed below are some of the most often seen cases.

Data breaching – In this instance, sensitive or confidential data is hacked and at risk of being shared. For schools, this threat poses a serious hazard to exposure of student information or institutional banking accounts. Which, in turn, is capable of leading to crime such as identity theft and extortion of money from institutions.

Internal threats – These internal attacks take place more often than we suspect, and it is easy to fall susceptible to them. Two types of internal threats exist and must be acknowledged. The first, is that of employees corrupting permissions access and sharing unauthorized information (sometimes seeking to steal resources.) The second, and more common case, occurs when team members are not well versed in handling physical devices or sensitive systems. For example, faculty that is negligent or uninformed of privacy control has the potential to fall victim to scam targeting or misplacement of important documents.

Physical security – It is possible for cybersecurity to become a means of physical security, when cyber threats are targeted towards specific people or groups. This overlap is not to be taken lightly, when considering the health and well-being of others at risk. If a cyber criminal has internally or externally received personal information of health records, email addresses, or physical addresses, cybersecurity progresses to physical security. For instance, with this access criminals have the potential to pose threats of cyberbullying or physical violence.

Proactive Steps

Due to the nature of these risks, we find it necessary to consider best practices and resources available to you. Our team at nSide desires for your organization to be prepared in every situation, so we have identified a few practical ways that you might be able to prevent, properly respond, and promptly recover from these attacks.

  1. Cultivate a culture of risk assessment. Train employees to recognize threats and follow in appropriate next steps.
  2. Keep track of employees that have access control and withdraw permissions to any faculty member that transfers or withdraws from the system entirely.
  3. Change passwords to data regularly and limit any recurring words or phrases.
  4. Familiarize your team with patterns that exhibit cybercrime scams and behaviors.
  5. Stay acclimated to the monitoring of data, by regularly practicing and evolving plans. 

EOP Integration Steps

Emergency Operation Planning is just one tool of many that nSide has accessible to organizations. Within the context of cybersecurity, EOP integration is of significant use. Because of this, it is important to understand the ways in which your cybersecurity is integrated into a plan. In short, this model provides a process for deliberate protection and readiness against all threats. This is a foundational resource for your school’s security to build upon. You might ask yourself, is my EOP updated and inclusive of cybersecurity plans?

The following steps are sourced from a “A Companion to the School Guide,” by the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (5).

Our Support

As districts and schools spread awareness of cybersecurity month and the urgency of this message, our team will be here with additional resources to assist you along the way. We believe that understanding threats, and our role in best practices for them, is critical to the execution of these situations. Additionally, we know that the community at large has a responsibility in training, monitoring systems, and responding to risk. Navigating these threats might seem like a daunting task, but we are here to help! As the month of October progresses, we will continue to share valuable tips to consider in your security steps and daily functions.

If you are curious about EOP features within nSide, or need help merging cybersecurity practices, we would love to discuss what tools are available for the benefit of your school safety. You can always reach us via live chat or by email at help@nside.io.

October 15, 2019
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