Episode 31 (Rerun) - Inside a School District’s Ransomware Nightmare

On this week’s K12 Tech Talk, the guys recap news from the HECC conference and break down Microsoft’s recent licensing changes that have IT teams and budget planners scrambling. They discuss the fallout of Google headlines, and other items that could influence refresh cycles, staffing, and procurement decisions. Then, Chris interviews the CEO of ChromebookParts.com, Shane Johnson to discuss the company's journey, lessons learned during COVID, and how the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) can benefit K12 technology departments. We also dive into Chromebook lifecycles, repair vs. replacement strategies, the growing trend of schools keeping devices for five to six years, and the pros and cons of refurbished Chromebooks. Plus, we explore repair trends, common misconceptions, and practical ways tech directors can stretch limited budgets without sacrificing reliability. EdtechIRL Substack on Microsoft License Changes: https://www.edtechirl.com/p/the-end-of-free-lunch-what-microsofts California Social Media Lawsuit: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/social-media-companies-sue-to-block-california-law-restricting-kids Shane Johnson on EOS at ChromebookParts: https://k12techpro.com/shane-johnson-on-eos-at-chromebookparts/ ———— Sponsored by: Rise Vision Fortinet ClassLink Lightspeed Systems NTP ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

On episode 289, Josh, Chris, and Mark unpack the fallout from Google’s recent AI announcement and the New York Times article that many read as an ultimatum to schools. The guys break down the headline that “Google will turn off search for schools that reject AI,” the clarification Google later posted, and why the community reaction has been so fierce. They discuss the technical realities behind Google’s plan - including moving Google Search into the Admin Console as a controllable service, the change from AI Overviews to a Guided Learning mode, and Google’s commitment to default new features to off, and why those technical details got lost in media coverage. Links Discussed: Google's Announcement: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/ai-learning-era-updates-2026/ Google's Clarification: https://x.com/NewsFromGoogle/status/2117714815477059722?a=DfiWCA4fSLTA1UnHE_4&s=20 New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/03/us/google-search-schools-restrict-ai.html   ———— Sponsored by: Rise Vision VIZOR Incident IQ Managed Methods Fortinet ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

On this episode, Josh, Chris and Mark unpack “Black October,” a wave of AI-driven cyberattacks that exposed vulnerabilities across industries and hit the K12 world hard. The conversation covers the recent PHP zero‑day exploitation, a spike in AI‑powered intrusions and agent‑based hacks, and why the speed of modern attacks forces districts to rethink patching, monitoring, and cloud vs. on‑prem strategy. The guys summarize major breach stories affecting schools and vendors, including the Frontline Education incident, and describe the troubling delays in breach notification. The episode concludes with a technical interview with Jonathan Kobe of Fortinet. Jonathan outlines concrete recommendations for K12 IT teams: restrict and MFA‑protect management access, adopt segmentation, consider automatic patching for critical infrastructure, enable deep packet/SSL inspection where feasible, and leverage managed SOC/SIEM services to make log data actionable.  Articles Discussed: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-16/state-testing-student-data-hack https://www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/10/26/mamdani-artificial-intelligence-ban-school-policy-doe-technology/ https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25519262-knicks-assistants-reportedly-havent-gotten-nba-championship-rings-msg-employees-tricked-email https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/sens-blumenthal-and-hawley-question-googles-push-for-ai-in-schools https://cybernews.com/news/hackers-breach-school-tech-giant-serving-50-million-students-nationwide/ https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/hooked-youtube-videos-schools-junk-infiltrating-classrooms-google/ ———— Sponsored by: Rise Vision VIZOR Incident IQ Managed Methods Fortinet NTP ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

In this episode (Rerun), K12 Tech Talk shares an in‑depth interview with an anonymous school IT leader who goes by "Denzel" about a ransomware attack on his district. The conversation covers the full timeline - from first signs and containment to recovery, forensics, and the long tail of remediation. The episode features Josh, Chris, CORY and a guest identified as... Denzel. Denzel represents a mid‑sized district of roughly 3,000 students and 300 staff (1:1 Chromebooks for students and 450 staff laptops). He agreed to tell the story with partial anonymity so listeners could learn the operational and technical details. ———— Sponsored by: Rise Vision Lightspeed Systems Fortinet NTP ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

In episode 287, Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss OpenAI’s upcoming text watermarking feature (and how easy it can be to bypass) and the limits of AI-detection tools. The news concerning hacked refrigerators in France is unpacked! The guys also talk about Amazon’s recent acquisition of the wearable AI company "Bee" and the launch of inexpensive always-on recording devices (wrist-worn and phone-back forms). They debate how districts should respond to wearable recorders - considering state recording laws, IEP and parent meeting recordings, test security, and whether existing device policies cover these new tools. https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/1wzhygu/proxy_hiding_in_the_googleapiscom_domain/ ———— Sponsored by: Rise Vision ClassLink Lightspeed Systems Fortinet NTP ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 286 dives into Josh and Chris' Google Education Leaders Series meeting in Atlanta, a Brookings study tracking student reactions to school cell phone bans across a full school year, and Common Sense Media’s evaluation of ChatGPT for Teens. The Google coverage centers on Gemini and the new Canvas feature. The guys describe creating polished Google Sheets dashboards and accessible tools in minutes and show how quick, whimsical vibe coding can generate games - but they warn that those same creative powers let students build distractions or bypass controls. Finally, Chris interviews Skip Cooley from Managed Methods (Skip is a former K12 tech) and he introduces Cloud Admin - a new admin tool for Google Workspace that exposes recent admin activity, simplifies bulk user/group/device operations, manages shared calendars and allowed domains, and offers easier remediation without command‑line tools.  Articles discussed: Guidance to Educational Institutions on Swatting Threats (ED and DOJ Dear Colleague Letter GEN-26-04, September 25, 2026) A year later, what teens tell us about school cellphone bans (Brookings, September 10, 2026; Dan Silver, Amie Rapaport, Morgan Polikoff) ChatGPT for Teens Risk Assessment (Common Sense Media Youth AI Safety Institute, updated October 7, 2026) Play the Josh-the-Avenger Game! *Mark created this game... this game is NOT as good as the game Chris created... but it's still good lolololol... Vide code your own Josh game... lol Controls: Space = Say NO to teachers Alt = Smash the AI bots with a Googlebook E = Use the Magical Bidet ———— Sponsored by: IncidentIQ VIZOR ClassLink Fortinet Extreme Networks NTP Managed Methods ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 285 dives into a fast‑moving week of K12 tech news. The guys discuss Hazel Health (a telehealth provider reportedly targeted by the Direwolf ransomware group) and a confirmed Frontline breach. Josh, Chris, and Mark break down Google's latest moves - an early consumer rollout of Googlebook, the timeline for education management controls, and Google’s decision to retire Gemini Gems and migrate functionality into cross‑platform "skills." They debate the need for more granular Google Admin Console controls so districts can toggle AI features selectively rather than adopting an all‑or‑nothing rollout. The episode also features an interview with Michael Marassa about adopting Lumu for K12 cybersecurity. ———— Sponsored by: Lumu - https://lumu.io/blog/instructure-canvas-breach-k12-supply-chain-security/ - https://lumu.io/blog/chromebook-visibility-school-cyber-stack/ Fortinet Lightspeed Insight Managed Methods ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

In this episode, Chris, Mark, and AI Josh discuss research studies about classroom technology, AI tutors, student-device use, and the alarming state of U.S. school facilities. The main segment examines the GAO’s nationally representative survey of over 400 districts that found 1 in 5 schools closed at least one day last year due to a facility emergency, with an estimated 3.5 million lost student days and major impacts on telecom, WiFi, power, and climate control. The guys talk about how aging infrastructure, lack of capital bonds, and construction or maintenance work can directly damage networking closets, cause overheating or water intrusion, and disrupt classroom technology. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-107970 ———— Sponsored by: Lumu - https://lumu.io/blog/instructure-canvas-breach-k12-supply-chain-security/ - https://lumu.io/blog/chromebook-visibility-school-cyber-stack/ Fortinet Incident IQ - Register for Overcoming Skepticism: AI’s Place in K-12 IT Operations Managed Methods VIZOR Chromebookparts.com - Contact [email protected] with the code: WELCOME TO CHROME IMPROVEMENT for an additional 10% percent off your next order! ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

On this episode, Josh, Mark, and Chris break down Florida’s new law requiring districts to notify parents in plain language when AI tools are used in classrooms and to offer opt‑outs - a policy the hosts unpack for feasibility, operational impact, and how it might force edtech vendors to add more granular control or risk being blocked. The guys also cover OpenAI’s $5 million grant program to study how generative AI affects teens, the recent launch of a teen‑specific ChatGPT experience, and how large districts like New York City are tightening YouTube access (allowing teachers to share videos via links but otherwise restricting the app). They discuss real classroom implications - from Grammarly and Quizlet adding AI features to Canva’s built‑in generators - and the difficulty of implementing opt‑outs at scale without creating headaches for IT staff and teachers. ChatGPT for Teens: https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teens/ ———— Sponsored by: Lumu - https://lumu.io/blog/instructure-canvas-breach-k12-supply-chain-security/ - https://lumu.io/blog/chromebook-visibility-school-cyber-stack/ Fortinet Lightspeed Systems Managed Methods Chromebookparts.com - Contact [email protected] with the code: WELCOME TO CHROME IMPROVEMENT for an additional 10% percent off your next order! ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.  

In episode 282, Josh, Chris, and Mark cover the controversy over the White House’s new arcade site, the major cyberattack that shut down Springfield (MA) Public Schools, and Josh's takeaways from Google’s AI Educator event in Austin. The main segment dives deep into agentic AI - autonomous AI agents that can act on systems instead of only returning chat responses. The trio walks through scenarios that K–12 tech leaders need to consider: agents updating SIS rosters, automating procurement and purchase approvals, rebooting classroom devices via help-desk automation, and security use cases where camera-detected threats could trigger lockdown procedures. They debate thresholds for false positives, legal and reporting risks, and where to require human oversight. Google training that Josh talked about ———— Sponsored by: Lumu Fortinet ClassLink Adira Extreme Networks Chromebookparts.com - Contact [email protected] with the code: WELCOME TO CHROME IMPROVEMENT for an additional 10% percent off your next order! ———— Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals) Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!! Email us at [email protected] OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected] X @k12techtalkpod Facebook Visit our LinkedIn Music by Colt Ball Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.