ITS Upgrades by Deerfield Digital Security

In a series of network upgrades geared toward increasing cybersecurity, Deerfield Information Technology Services (ITS) updated security measures for Green_Door_BYOD, the central Wi-Fi for students, and overhauled the Green Door Wi-Fi system for the upcoming school year.

On September 8, public schools in nearby Springfield and Everett closed for four days due to multiple cyberattacks that resulted in the potential compromise of personal data of members of the school community, prompting intervention by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cyberattacks have been rising in Massachusetts for almost a decade; in fact, digital security breaches rose by 256.7% between 2018 and 2025 according to independent and education-based research organization Pioneer Institute. 

Assistant Director of ITS Ashley Barstow, ITS Network Administrator Darin Pawlus and Director of ITS and Computer Science Program Kimberly Butz worked throughout the summer to purchase equipment for the new Wi-Fi system. They worked to increase cybersecurity for the 2026 to 2027 school year and collected data in order to prepare for potential future attacks.

“I like to call [DA Wireless] the ‘Wild West.’ Anybody could connect pretty much any kind of device to DA Wireless. It was a wide open network with no encryption and no security,” said Ms. Butz. The main reason behind many of Deerfield’s network improvements was to make Deerfield’s Wi-Fi more secure. ITS was able to monitor traffic to a certain extent, but changes in the network proved to better increase encryption and digital safety. 

Ms. Butz revealed a few reasons hackers would want to gain access to a student’s account, the first being malicious intent. Here, she emphasized that third party intervention, otherwise known as a “business interruption,” could harm a student’s account security when malintended. The second reason she explains is monetary: hackers are incentivized to collect data and charge the victim a ransom to get the data back. The third, one particularly targeted towards underage students with a blank profile easily exploited, is for credit. The final, most common reason is to plan attacks, including situations where hackers could impersonate Deerfield when communicating with neighboring schools.

Nicole Lefavour ’27 shared her experience with a phishing attempt. In early March 2026, she received an email asking her to fill out a DocuSign form, a platform Deerfield also uses. Lefavour was going on the softball preseason trip and assumed it was a form for the trip: “It looked pretty much legitimate.
It had DocuSign’s trademark and their logo. So, of course, I clicked the link to try to sign the form,” she said. 

A week later, Lefavour was informed that a “special party invitation” had been sent out to all of her contacts, and other students who received the invitation said that clicking the link would download software to their computer. Some people emailed Lefavour back, asking whether it was her and if the link was legitimate. She had been on a trip without her phone and was unable to reply.

“Because my email had been hacked into, the hacker actually responded to those people in my email, and they responded saying, ‘yes, this is me,’” she said. As in many cases, these email conversations went back and forth for several rounds. Ultimately, Lefavour’s parents, who had also received the email, informed her of the situation. She emailed everyone back, explaining the phishing attempt and suggesting that they go to ITS if they downloaded anything. 

However, Lefavour was not alone in her experiences dealing with cybersecurity concerns. Another phishing attempt last spring reportedly mentioned the death of a faculty member’s family member and listed free items that they were supposedly giving away. These items included a gaming system, a high-end video camera, and some musical instruments. Ms. Butz warned that “[if] it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” as shipping for these items turned out to be $400 to 500.

To combat this myriad of concerns, Deerfield carried out many new policy updates over the summer. Updates include a new policy where students must register other electronics — such as gaming consoles — for them to be allowed onto the Green_Door_BYOD network. Another notable change was in the Green Door guest network. “Green_Door_Guest,” will now allow parents to register at the start of their visit and grant them access to the network for five days.

Despite Deerfield’s attempts to limit cybersecurity threats, many students have begun to familiarize themselves with cybersecurity practices alongside the rise of these concerns. Joo Choi ’30 started studying cybersecurity last year in March and cited the benefits of websites like TryHackMe and HackTheBox that teach how to hack ethically and protect your accounts online. 

Choi suggested two steps to ensure student safety during cybersecurity attacks. He said that the first step is to check who is sending the email, before asking: “Where is this link redirecting me to? ... Does this seem reasonable? Does this make sense?” Choi also emphasized the need to have secure, long passwords. “I would not recommend putting your birthdate, someone's name, your pet's name, your pet's birthday or anything related to you,” he said.

Despite the rise of cybersecurity concerns, the combination of infrastructure upgrades by ITS and growing awareness of its prevalence is raising proactivity among the student body.