Educational Technology-Week 8

Security is a crucial part of owning a computer or using a public computer.  Being proactive can save an individual or school from all the damage an electronic infection can cause.  Getting a virus, Trojan horse, or computer worm can be very dangerous and damaging to a computer.  An electronic infection that a human being creates properly can have a devastating effect on a computer.  An example in the reading that shows how much damage a computer worm can have on a computer is the Mydoom worm.  The site said that in a single day about a quarter-million computers were infected.  There have also been viruses so powerful that large companies such as Microsoft have been forced to shut down their e-mail system until the virus could be contained.  With the increased use and reliance on the internet, it is important for individuals and schools to go out of their way to protect their computers.

I am not currently teaching at a school but have used computers at many different schools.  I substituted in a long-term position at a middle school and learned a lot about the action they take to protect the computers from malicious software and hackers.  One way that schools protect themselves is by assigning each individual has their own login and password that should not be shared with anyone else.  This allows the school technology teacher to be able to see what sites each individual has accessed and can be alerted if a student is using sites that are not for educational use or that may have viruses.  The technology administrator also has the ability to block all users from Facebook, Twitter, and many other personal sites that can have viruses attached to certain links etc.  I have seen and clicked on links on social media websites that are carrying electronic infections and if schools block these sites they are protecting themselves from getting viruses.  If a school computer receives any type of Malware it can easily be spread among students and educators through e-mail and it can shut down a large amount of computers in a smaller period of time.  Finally, the school downloaded an anti-virus/spyware to help protect their data and computer system.  A spyware or anti-virus can help protect a school because the software scans computer files, locates the viruses and removes them.  This is crucial in a school because students are constantly searching the internet, bringing in flash drives that have been used on home computers, and checking e-mails that can contain Malware.  It is the responsibility of the educator to help teach students about how they can help protect the school from Malware and monitor their students to ensure that they are following rules and regulations while on school computers.