Online learning has become a crucial part of our lives in the pandemic. Cyber awareness training takes so much of a company’s time, but it is worth the effort when the LMS does not get hacked. E-learning is happening all the time, but sometimes that can cause problems when your security details are shared with unwanted people.
Issues arise when the company’s LMS gets hacked or when a MOOC’s website is compromised.
Hence, these organizations must ensure that the users cannot log in without providing an OTP. It will prevent unauthorized users from accessing the accounts of learners. This can be the adverse consequence when an LMS gets hacked:
Hackers can take loans and steal mail
Hackers can get access to so much valuable information through login credentials. This can include the user’s bank details, which can be further used to take credit. But this can be stopped through a credit freeze, where the users can ensure that no one can apply for a credit card or a loan when such a freeze has been imposed. When you need a loan, you can unfreeze your account.
Apart from that, the unsuspecting users of such e-learning sites can also have concerns when someone gets access to their house address and pays a visit. He can check the mailbox and steal all kinds of items, such as passport numbers included in confidential mail.
The learners must make sure that they do a follow-up whenever they have not received any mail from an organization. They know if their mail has been stolen by someone else in such a situation. When they are not in the house, they must ensure that their mail is received by someone else so that it does not go into the hands of fraudsters. If someone is not available to collect your mail while on vacation, it’s better to ask the sending organization to delay it until you arrive. Apart from passport numbers, thieves can get access to all kinds of information through your mail, such as school records, utility bills, etc.
Solution 1: Limited number of login attempts
The e-learning companies USA must ensure that the users are given an extra layer of protection when they log on to the LMS through their business’s website. Any user must be unable to access the LMS after three attempts to log in. His access must be blocked because, generally, a user can’t enter an incorrect password three times. It could be hackers trying to get into an account using brute force algorithms.
Solution 2: Anti-spam feature in the LMS
The users must also be given a reCAPTCHA option so that no bot can access the LMS. Also, the user data must be protected on the server’s end. Only specific LMS administrators must have access to this server so that no one can steal this confidential data. The company getting an LMS from the e-learning vendors must ensure that it has features such as anti-spam. It makes sure that no one can access the LMS through spam email accounts. Once any spammer creates an account on an LMS, he can install ransomware on the server and access all user details. They can then ask for a hefty ransom to get back access to all its LMS files. Even if such spammers don’t install ransomware on the server, they can still send learners phishing emails and access sensitive information like banking details.
Solution 3: LMS access allowed through specific IP addresses
It’s the job of the e-learning vendor to check that anyone cannot register on the LMS. The permitted users should only be from certain specific domains, like the corporate website or an e-learning portal created for this purpose. Anyone else logging from his email ID should not create an account. Furthermore, the company should ensure that no one has access to the e-learning portal except the employees. But even if the URL gets known to others, its access must be allowed from specific IP addresses. Hence, the businesses must ensure that the LMS security is taken care of properly by the e-learning vendor.
Solution 4: Automatic Backup
An LMS vendor must also have backup support if the servers get hacked. In the absence of a backup, the e-learning content is also lost apart from user details. Hence, its LMS software must have the capability to create a backup every night on the dedicated server of the LMS vendor. When a backup option is there, companies are saved from the hassle of recreating all the e-learning content from scratch.
The LMS vendor must ensure that the users’ systems don’t get hacked by fraudsters. Hence, the LMS must come bundled with antivirus software to scan the users’ computers and alert them about any virus installation.
Solution 5: Access through OTP only
The LMS vendors must also ensure that the software is compatible with the mobile phone. It’s because any app can be hacked quite easily; hence it’s the job of the LMS vendor to check that the users can only log into the app through the OTP protocol so that anyone who has downloaded the app can’t log on to it. Also, all the data transferred through the app must be encrypted to protect it from hacking.
This is how an e-learning vendor can prevent an LMS from getting hacked.