Technology

Social Engineering is big business for hackers.  It is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. It is the art of manipulating, influencing, or deceiving you in order to gain control over your computer system.   For example, people list password challenge and identity verification publicly on their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages and feeds without giving it a second thought. Maiden name? Favorite pet?  High school?  Town they grew up in? Favorite or first car?  Social Engineering is always part of a larger con with the main objective usually involving the victims to:

• Give up username and passwords
• Install malware on their computer
• Send money via electronic transfer, money order, or gift cards
• Authorize a malicious software plugin, extension or third-party app
• Act as a "money mule" for the purpose of laundering and transferring illicit funds

 Prevent this by:

•  Not posting any personal/sensitive information online anywhere or
• Always giving false password and identity challenge and verification information to the sites and services that require it.
• Keep your answer file offline.

What's New in Technology for Teachers

We all know or heard of Alexa and Siri----now we have Merlyn, the world's first digital assistant designed for teachers!  Merlyn is designed to help teachers navigate all of the technology in their classrooms.  Teachers are given the freedom to teach with Symphony Classroom, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) classroom hub which combines hardware, AI services, and software to support teachers in their classrooms through Merlyn. 

You can talk to Merlyn from anywhere in the classroom and ask for information relating to your lesson.  You can navigate your browser just by asking Merlyn.  For example, "Go to YouTube and search for videos of bumblebees", Tell us about the war in Ukraine," What is the square root of 435?"  

Administrators and Teachers will be participating in a demonstration and possible pilot of Merlyn during the week of May 9.