K12 Tech Talk

A K12TechPro Podcast. This podcast is about trending K12 technology topics and issues. Josh, Chris, and Mark have real conversations, real arguments, and real banter on IT issues and trends in K12 Schools. Current and Past Sponsors: Absolute, Arista, HPE Aruba Networking, Blocksi, Chromebookparts.com, ClassLink, CTL, Eaton, Extreme Networks, Fortinet, Howard Technology Solutions, iDoc, Infoblox, INVZBL, Jupiter Education, Lightspeed Systems, Luma Technologies, Managed Methods, NTP, Papercut, Provision Data Solutions, Pondurance, PowerGistics, Prey, Rise Vision, Ruckus/Commscope, SaferWatch, Scale Computing, SHI, StatusGator, SomethingCool.com, Tripp Lite, Verkada, VIZOR
Episodes
Episodes



Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Episode 121 - Student MFA?!?!
Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Thursday Jun 01, 2023
In this episode, we talk about the possibility of requiring Student MFA (thanks to a k12sysadmin post). We also talk about Chris prepping for his network admin to retire and the "brain dump" process they are undertaking. Finally, we talk about the recently announced change to "3rd Party Apps" authentication with Google SSO. This change takes effect on October 23rd, 2023 and will cause issues. The time to act is now... DON'T WAIT!
An article we wrote on K12TechPro with 3rd Party Apps instructions is here.
Google article is here... https://support.google.com/a/answer/13289151
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Managed Methods - free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security audit
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
SomethingCool.com
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn page HERE



Thursday May 25, 2023
Episode 120 - Chris Sleeps This One Out
Thursday May 25, 2023
Thursday May 25, 2023
Chis is off napping somewhere so it is the Mark and Josh show.
They recap the recently released "CoSN 2023 State of EdTech Leadership Survey" that was released this week. They go over 11 key findings and trends that came out of the study. Some might surprised you.
Mark talks about figured out how to block international logins to Google Workspace accounts. Hint - he made a full writeup on the K12 Tech Pro Community
The guys also talk about the newly refreshed #StopRansomware Report from CISA/FBI.
Finally there is a quick interview with Jeff and Dean from VIZOR about what Vizor can do for your district
Buy our merch!!!
VIZOR
Managed Methods - free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security audit
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
SomethingCool.com
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod



Thursday May 18, 2023
Episode 119 - An Interview with Lucas from PIRG
Thursday May 18, 2023
Thursday May 18, 2023
We quickly talk about the SchoolDude breach and Keepass's newly announced CVE. The majority of the episode is an interview with Lucas from PIRG. Lucas is the author of the study we referenced a few weeks ago in the episode "Chromebooks are Evil?." The study looks at "Chromebook Churn" and e-waste created by device usage. After that episode a few weeks ago, Lucas reached out to us to clarify a few points of the study. So, we invited him on to make those clarifications to our listeners. We had an interesting discussion with Lucas, and came away agreeing on more points than we disagree.
Article that Mark refers to - Why do we replace our laptops every few years?
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Managed Methods - free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security audit
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
SomethingCool.com
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn page HERE



Thursday May 11, 2023
Episode 118 - The Gang Finally Meets
Thursday May 11, 2023
Thursday May 11, 2023
🎶Together and it feels so good...🎵
We are all together for the first time at the New Hampshire CTO Clinic! First and foremost, we thank Barbara and the committee for inviting us and making the trip possible - We had a blast!
We got to hang out with the fine folks of the "Live Free or Die" State and talk all things K12 technology. The key topics were cybersecurity and data privacy. We had a chance to interview Pam and Josh, two of the driving forces behind New Hampshire's outstanding Student Data Privacy standards. We also interview Neal who everyone says "Neal is the State's cyber guy!"
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Managed Methods
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
SomethingCool.com
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod



Thursday May 04, 2023
Episode 117 - Lakota Schools Cyber Academy
Thursday May 04, 2023
Thursday May 04, 2023
This is a bit of a special episode. We are in New Hampshire for the NHCTO Clinic, so we prerecorded a few interviews. The first interview you will hear is with Andrew and George from Lakota Local School District. George is a student in high school and is completing their Cyber Academy program and gaining Industry Recognized Certificates (Including Security+ and CEH pro). This has opened doors for George and he is currently working as a cybersecurity professional for a company in his area while going to school. It's a really cool program and has given us a few ideas.
The second interview you will hear is a chat with a number of representatives from Absolute. They go into detail about what their product can offer schools.
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Absolute - Email [email protected]
Absolute - Ensuring your Students’ Safety
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
SomethingCool.com - X360 Cloud Solution for backing up Google Workspace
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod



Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Episode 116 - Chromebooks Are Evil?
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Mark is worked up this week, but first... Chris asks us how to keep printers from getting to bad websites, we talk about the big PaperCut vulnerability announced last week, we compare Chris' personality and mannerisms to Ted Lasso, we talk about the new pending Federal Legislation to enhance K12 Cyber Security, and Mark talks about Domain Doppelgänger from KnowBe4.
The majority of this episode is spent talking about a "study" that was published last week about how Chromebooks are evil. The study talks about how schools have spent money buying millions of Chromebooks but those Chromebooks can't be repaired, have a "death date," and creating huge amounts of e-waste. This article got Mark worked up and he walks us through debunking each and every claim in this article and, in the process, we have a few good laughs.
K12 Cyber Legislation - https://thejournal.com/articles/2023/04/20/federal-legislation-would-create-k12-cybersecurity-improvement-program.aspx
PIRG "study" - https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/chromebook-churn-report-highlights-problems-of-short-lived-laptops-in-schools/
Papercut CVE - https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/exploit-released-for-papercut-flaw-abused-to-hijack-servers-patch-now/
Domain Doppelgänger - https://www.knowbe4.com/domain-doppelganger
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Absolute - Email [email protected]
Strengthening Security and Compliance Posture through Cyber Resilience in Education
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
SomethingCool.com - X360 Cloud Solution for backing up Google Workspace
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod



Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Episode 115 - Tabletop Exercises with SZA?
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
In this episode, Josh is really confused about the artist known as SZA and CISA, Mark reads a listener email, Chris talks about the tabletop exercise he did with his district administration team, and the guys banter about Missouri's proposed Senate Bill 4 that could affect website access.
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Absolute - Email [email protected]
Strengthening Security and Compliance Posture through Cyber Resilience in Education
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
SomethingCool.com - X360 Cloud Solution for backing up Google Workspace
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
NTP
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn page HERE
Reddit
NH CTO Clinic



Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Episode 114 - D&D: School Edition
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
We have a number of listener emails that we address tonight. One is about shutting down SIS during off hours in an effort to protect it from attacks, one is about the Chrome net-export exploit, and the final one is about our retrospective on the COVID Years. We talk about CISA's new tabletop exercise template and how it would be fun to treat like it D&D: School Edition. We also talk about Black Hills Information Security's "Backdoors & Breaches" card game. We also talk about how "testing season" has changed over the last 5-7 years; from when devices were shared and testing was staggered to now when you can test an entire building in a few days.
Listen here (and on all major podcast platforms).
Join the K12TechPro.com Community.
Buy our merch!!!
Absolute - Email [email protected]
Absolute Ransomware Response
Fortinet - Email [email protected]
SomethingCool.com - X360 Cloud Solution for backing up Google Workspace
Extreme Networks - Email [email protected]
Provision Data Solutions
Oh, and...
Email us at [email protected]
Tweet us @k12techtalkpod
Visit our LinkedIn page HERE
Reddit
NH CTO Clinic