Brookville School District
When Matt Simmons, director of technology for the Brookville School District in Pennsylvania, first heard about free email security offerings from Cloudflare’s Project Cybersafe Schools, he approached the idea with the same caution and thoroughness with which he would vet any other vendor. In his job, he is constantly evaluating products and tools, many of which do not live up to companies’ claims, creating headaches for him and his staff.
The idea of defending the district’s 1,000+ email inboxes from social engineering attacks was appealing, especially to complement the district’s regular training on threats. Users had previously received phishing emails and reported them to Matt’s team. Even with training, however, Matt notes that “It takes just one person not thinking clearly or not paying attention to cause a big problem.”
One step at a time
Months after getting onboarded with Email Security from Cloudflare, Matt commented, “From our perspective, it seems to be doing what it touted to do, which is rare for products.”
In getting started, Matt decided to take a phased approach, setting up faculty accounts for protection and monitoring progress before adding in student accounts as well. He closely monitored the results and informed his colleagues to speak up if any expected emails did not arrive — none reported any issues.
Within just a few days, “I was surprised to see how much garbage had been trying to come in,” Matt adds. Feeling more confident about proceeding, he onboarded the rest of the district’s email accounts earlier than he had initially planned. He continued closely checking results until he felt comfortable with the product’s performance, comparing it to the “set it and forget it” infomercials for rotisserie chicken ovens in the 20th century.
Learn more about Project Cybersafe Schools
Project Cybersafe Schools supports eligible K-12 public school districts with a package of Zero Trust security solutions — for free, and with no time limit. These tools help eligible school districts minimize their exposure to common cyber threats. Since being established in 2023, the program has grown to encompass 146 school districts in 30 states.
To be eligible, participants must be K-12 public school districts located in the United States with up to 2,500 students in the district. Find out more details and apply today.
