Kia ora
There has been an increase in cyber attacks on New Zealand schools and we are looking at ways to keep schools’ information and transactions safe and secure.
There are a number of things that you can do to keep your information safe, such as protecting your passwords, using an updated browser, being careful what you open and click on, and enabling multi-factor or two-factor authentication (MFA/2FA) wherever possible.
This update has more details below about what you can do to help keep your information safe:
Protect your password
Don’t share your EdPay or any other passwords with anyone, especially not through unsolicited emails, calls or texts. Remember that EPL won’t ever email or text asking you for your password.
Here are some useful sites where you can find more information:
Use an updated browser
It is important to have a current web browser when you use EdPay. Older versions may not work properly and can also be a security risk. Please check with your school’s IT support that you are using a secure, supported browser and operating system.
The Ministry's ICT helpdesk can help you upgrade your browser. This is a free service available to all schools via the toll-free number 0800 225 542.
Be careful what you click on or open
A reminder to everyone to please not click links in, or respond to, unexpected email/text messages. There is a real risk of increased cyber attacks and new malware due to the conflict in Europe. EPL is exploring further precautions we can take, and have already acted to add additional features to our anti-virus protections and increased our phishing protection settings, and ask schools to report suspicious emails and activity.
Always use a New Zealand based IP address
To make your information more secure, we have limited access to the EdPay login page to New Zealand IP addresses. If your school uses an overseas IP address to access EdPay, then you will need to change how you connect to EdPay. If you are working from overseas, you can use a New Zealand based VPN to access EdPay.
While this is only expected to affect a small number of school users, we expect that some will need to make changes to their IP addresses. If you get an Invalid Request: Support ID XXXXXXXXX error message when you are accessing EdPay, you will need to change to a New Zealand based IP address to access the EdPay portal.
Ngā mihi
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