Saudi students working remotely at risk from cyberattacks: Experts

JEDDAH: Saudi students working remotely were on Wednesday urged to protect their computers from the threat of cyberattacks.

Tech experts fear that university students could fall prey to hackers when the new term begins if they fail to follow security protocols.

In a bid to prevent online attacks on learners studying remotely due to measures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, the Saudi Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has issued a set of guidelines on safe computer use via its Twitter account and website.

The team, a subsidiary of the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), said: “The mobility of the devices (students) use to study and connect to multiple networks makes them a target for hackers.”

CERT recommended that students should only connect to password-protected networks, install apps from official stores, update devices regularly with the latest operating system and anti-virus software, and double-check websites used for lectures, homework, and research.

It also advised regular scanning of external hard drives before using them, and more commonly, to avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments sent from unknown sources.

NCA consultant, Fatimah Al-Akeel, told Al-Ekhbariya the Learning Securely cybersecurity campaign aimed to educate students, their guardians, and teachers about the etiquette of online learning.

“Remote learning will focus on e-learning platforms that students and teachers can access on the internet, and in itself, the internet is full of cyberthreats. Users need to be fully aware of these dangers, especially phishing and social engineering,” Al-Akeel said.

She pointed out that hackers would bait people with their interests, for instance, with students, sharing messages and links related to the e-learning platform their school was using or a log of their grades.

“Teachers and educators play a major role in creating a successful learning experience in classrooms. This could be implemented with cybersecurity. Teachers can teach their students on ways to protect themselves online, how to react to anything out of the ordinary that they see online, and who to report it to.

“In order for such campaigns to succeed, we need to put our efforts together with teachers and guardians, and anyone related to the education process, such as deanships of electronic transactions in universities providing guidelines by CERT or their own. All of these can have an impact on the campaign and help deliver it to its intended audience,” Al-Akeel added.

Students of all levels will resume the new school year through remote learning for a period of seven weeks, the Saudi Minister of Education Dr. Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh has announced.

The decision was made after coordinated discussions with the relevant authorities as Saudi Arabia continued to tackle the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the global health crisis, the Kingdom has accelerated the e-learning process through its accredited platforms. Virtual classes will be given through Vschool.sa as teachers will be required to deliver lessons remotely. School curriculums will be provided on the iEN platform, the Kingdom’s national education portal.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced 33 new COVID-19-related deaths, taking to 3,755 the total number of people in the Kingdom who have so far died from the disease.

There were 1,068 new cases reported, meaning 310,836 people had now contracted COVID-19. Health officials said 22,136 cases were active of which 1,601 patients were in critical condition.

According to the Ministry of Health, Jazan recorded the highest number of new cases in the Kingdom with 84, while Makkah reported 67, and Madinah 57.

Another 1,013 patients had recovered from COVID-19, taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 284,945.

Saudi Arabia has so far conducted 4,850,659 polymerase chain reaction tests, with 58,467 checks having been carried out in the most recent 24-hour period.