MAEDS 2024

In February of 2024, Portage Public Schools dealt with the very sudden loss of their technology director. Learn from our first-hand experience in the hours, days, and weeks, as we dealt with this abrupt leadership loss with no transition, and the challenges we suddenly faced.

In today's tech-driven world, mastering the art of saying "no" with finesse is a game-changer. It's not enough to simply decline a request; the true magic lies in turning that "no" into a "thank you." Join me as we delve into the evolving landscape of school IT, where exceptional customer service is paramount. We'll explore how to break the "angry tech guy" stereotype and transform every interaction into a positive experience, even when you can't give them what they want.

FreePBX Hands-on: How-to, Installing, features, and benefits.

Purple Knight is a Free tool that can identify and walk you through fixing security vulnerabilities in your AD and Entra ID environment. I will go through running it and some easy fixes that will make your network more secure.

In In this session, we'll cover the following topics related to email authentication and security:

1. SMTP Overview
What is SMTP? (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
How SMTP works in email delivery.
The importance of securing SMTP to prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks.

2. Understanding DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
What is DKIM?
How DKIM uses cryptographic signatures to verify the sender's domain.
The role of DKIM is to protect against email tampering.
Implementing DKIM with OpenDKIM
Installation and configuration of OpenDKIM.
Generating DKIM keys and adding them to DNS.
Verifying DKIM signatures in outgoing emails.
Troubleshooting DKIM issues
Common issues and how to resolve them.

3. Understanding SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
What is SPF?
How SPF defines which mail servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain.
Role of SPF in preventing email spoofing.
Implementing SPF
Creating and publishing an SPF record in DNS.
Testing and validating SPF records.
SPF Reputation Scores
How ISPs and email providers use SPF reputation scores.
Tips to maintain a high SPF reputation score.

4. Understanding DMARC (Domainbased Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
What is DMARC?
How DMARC works with DKIM and SPF to provide domainlevel email authentication.
The importance of DMARC in protecting against phishing and email spoofing.
Implementing DMARC
Creating and publishing a DMARC policy in DNS.
How to interpret DMARC reports.
Using EasyDMARC for DMARC management
Overview of EasyDMARC.
Setting up and configuring EasyDMARC.
Analyzing DMARC reports using EasyDMARC.
DMARC Reputation Scores
Factors affecting DMARC reputation scores.
Maintaining a good DMARC reputation score.

5. Integrating SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for Email Security
Best practices for integrating and managing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Real-world scenarios and case studies.
Monitoring and improving email reputation scores.

6. Q&A
Open discussion and troubleshooting.
Practical implementation using OpenDKIM and EasyDMARC.

This session will give you a comprehensive understanding of email authentication techniques and how to implement them effectively using tools like Open DKIM and EasyDMARC.

Linux OS, Postfix, Open DKIM,

Tools:
EasyDMARC
Dmarcian
DNS Checker

This session does tie in Google and Microsoft Mail Delivery

New to E-Rate or not very familiar with how it works and what you can use it for at your district? After this session, you will understand the 2 categories of funding, the yearly process/timeline, review various forms, understand how to calculate and maximize discounts, and tips for working with this program.

IT Leadership is a unique position within K-12 school districts. You oversee the service provided to both business and instructional staff. You may interact with department heads and principals all the way down to individual teachers across the district. You must simultaneously set the direction for IT management in your district while balancing the needs of instructional staff and cybersecurity realities. Join us for a session focused on practices, conversations, and opportunities you can take as an IT leader to create a seat at the leadership table for K-12 schools.

Network Monitoring and configuration backups are critical for understanding your network, quickly identifying issues, and recovering from disasters.

In the first part of the session, we'll have a demonstration of some of the major features of Librenms and the Oxidized integration. This will include uptime and other sensor alerting, network topology maps, switch configuration backups and version diffs, searching for devices on the network, identifying network traffic patterns, and more.

In the second part, we'll have a live demo of installing and configuring LibreNMS and Oxidized from scratch. This will include installing Docker on an empty Ubuntu Server, cloning the Docker Compose and other necessary config files, modifying those configs for your environment, integrating LibreNMS and Oxidized, and preparing your network devices for SNMP and SSH connections from LibreNMS and Oxidized respectively. (A prerecorded video will be available for future reference or in case of technical issues)

The goal is for everyone to walk out with the knowledge and resources necessary to quickly implement this in their own environment.

A demonstration of how to conduct your own phishing campaign for free with PowerShell. You will learn how to make templates, send emails, track responses, and build your own reports. Save your district thousands by sending emails yourself for free!

Struggling to reach your students and staff about the importance of Cybersecurity safety for themselves and the school? REMC Association can help! Explore free resources, developed in partnership with other Michigan organizations, to help your district be on board with understanding Cybersecurity.