ICT Services 4 Education

 

School ICT News Bulletin No. 327 - 24/10/2024

Published by ICT Solutions

eBulletin Items

  1. Powering off core network equipment over the half-term holiday period
  2. Support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 ends in October 2025
  3. Anycomms Plus unavailability - October 30th, 10:00 to 14:00 hours
  4. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month
  5. Windows 10 support ends in October 2025 - Plan your upgrade to Windows 11 today!
  6. Minimum iOS system requirements for Outlook for iOS
  7. MIS contracts - does yours expire in March 2025?

1. Powering off core network equipment over the half-term holiday period

We would like to ask schools to refrain from turning off the power to the core networking equipment over the forthcoming half-term period. Core networking equipment includes routers, switches and servers, often in a wall or floor cabinet. These devices are monitored by ourselves and Rydal/Schools Broadband and turning off the power results in false alarms. This could potentially result in you incurring a charge for an engineer visit.

 

If there is no alternative to powering off the communications cabinet and core equipment, because of planned work, for example, please advise us in advance.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 


2. Support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 ends in October 2025

Support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 will end on October 14th, 2025. After that date, no further updates, security fixes, or technical support will be available for these versions of Office. While the applications may continue to function, using unsupported software could lead to potential security risks and other issues. Because migrations can take time, we recommend starting to upgrade any remaining devices your organization has running Office 2016 or Office 2019 to a supported version as soon as possible.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 


3. Anycomms Plus unavailability - October 30th, 10:00 to 14:00 hours

AVCO will be carrying out planned maintenance during the forthcoming half-term holiday period. On Wednesday, October 30th, between 10:00 and 14:00 hours, the service will be unavailable.

 

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 


4. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month

Cyber Security Awareness Month is an international initiative to raise awareness about digital security and remind us that there are simple ways to protect yourselves from online threats. 

 

Cyber security should be high on the agenda for any school with a reliance on IT and online systems.  Falling victim to cyberattacks can result in disruption to teaching and learning, financial loss, data breaches and can affect staff wellbeing.

 

This month we are focusing on ways to stay safe and secure; these are:

 

  • Practical resources for schools
  • Use of strong passwords
  • Turning on multifactor authentication
  • Recognise and report phishing
  • Keep up to date with learning 
  • Reporting a school cyber incident

 

Cyber security and cyber resilience both have an equal part to play in reducing the cyber risk to organisations:

 

  • Cyber security focuses on preventing hackers penetrating your IT systems
  • Cyber resilience is the ability of an organisation to protect itself from, detect, respond to and recover from a cyber attack

 

Taking a methodical and proactive approach to cyber security and putting in place basic safeguards can greatly reduce the risk to your organisation.

 

Free resources to help keep you safe

 

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – Cyber security in schools toolkits for Boards

 

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/board-toolkit

 

Passwords

 

Your laptops, computers, tablets and smartphones will contain a lot of your own education-critical data, the personal information of your students, and details of the online accounts that you access. It is essential that this data is available to you, but not available to unauthorised users.

 

Passwords - when implemented correctly - are a free, easy and effective way to prevent unauthorised users accessing your devices. This link outlines 5 things to keep in mind when using passwords.

 

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/small-business-guide/using-passwords-protect-your-data

 

Avoiding Phishing attacks

 

Phishing is a type of cyber-attack designed to trick you into 'doing the wrong thing', such as disclosing sensitive information like your username and password or clicking on a link that may download malicious content to your computer.

 

Email is currently the most common delivery method for phishing attacks. Phishing emails are becoming more and more sophisticated and often look genuine at first glance, but some can still be identified by poor spelling and grammar.

 

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/small-business-guide/avoiding-phishing-attacks

 

Staff Training

 

The NCSC has produced free cyber security training to raise awareness and help school staff manage some of the key cyber threats facing schools.

 

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/cyber-security-training-schools

 

Reporting Cybercrime

 

https://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/article/62983

 

Teaching and Learning resources

 

https://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/article/63101

 

 


5. Windows 10 support ends in October 2025 - Plan your upgrade to Windows 11 today!

After October 14th, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows 10.  Without regular updates, your device will be more susceptible to malware, viruses, and other cyber threats.

 

Staying on an unsupported OS (Operating System) may lead to compliance issues with industry standards and regulations. Some applications may also no longer work due to the increased security risk.

 

Plan your upgrade to Windows 11 today! More details can be found at the following link - Windows 11 upgrade information

 


6. Minimum iOS system requirements for Outlook for iOS

We have received the following update from Microsoft below, that will impact Apple devices:

 

With iOS 18 now live, Outlook for iOS is preparing to drop support for iOS 16 with Outlook devices running iOS 16, or lower no longer receiving Office app updates.

 

Over time, Outlook for iOS on iOS 16 devices will eventually stop synchronizing email and calendar data, unless they have a supported version of iOS.

 

This change does not affect anyone using Outlook for iOS apps on iOS 17 or above.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 


7. MIS contracts - does yours expire in March 2025?

Are you one of the many schools whose MIS (Management Information System) renewal is due in March 2025? Whilst it might seem quite a way off, once you factor in cease notification timescales required, it isn’t. If you are thinking of changing provider, you need to give yourself enough time to look at the market and see what’s available to meet your needs.

 

As a reminder, we are accredited to support the following MIS platforms:

 

  • Arbor *
  • Bromcom
  • ESS SIMS

 

* We do also currently support Integris and Scholarpack, part of the same group as Arbor. Arbor is the MIS that they will be promoting moving forward, as it has greater functionality than the other two MIS' mentioned in the group. 

 

If you are interested in coming to us for your MIS support, we can liaise with the suppliers to put on webinars, as we have done previously.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 


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