Cybersecurity doesn’t have to mean expensive software and massive budgets. In fact, many schools and small IT teams have successfully built strong defenses using free and open-source tools. Here are five that I’ve seen make a real difference in education and resource-constrained environments. 1. Wazuh – Free SIEM and EDR Platform Why it matters: Schools often can’t afford Splunk or CrowdStrike, but they still need visibility into logs and endpoints. Wazuh provides free SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) capabilities. Key Features: Collects logs from Windows, Linux, firewalls, and more. Detects suspicious behavior with built-in rules. Provides dashboards and alerting. How to start: Deploy Wazuh on a Linux VM and forward logs from endpoints. Even with a small deployment, you’ll gain valuable visibility. Documentation: Installing Wazuh 2. Sysmon (Sysinternals) Why it matters: Windows’ default logs don’t always give enough detail. Sy...
The Greenbush K12 Tech Blog is dedicated to exploring the unique challenges and opportunities at the intersection of education, technology, and cybersecurity. Greenbush's mission is to help schools, educators, and IT leaders understand the evolving digital risks facing K-12 environments and how to build safer, more resilient learning communities.