2026 Institute for Administrative Assistants

As a trusted partner to your school’s leadership team, you manage sensitive information; coordinate financial transactions; and often serve as a point of contact for families, vendors, and other outside stakeholders. That central role makes you a likely target for AI-powered scams and deepfake deception, but it also puts you in a powerful position to be your school’s first line of defense. In this session, you’ll move through real-time simulations that reveal how these threats unfold. You’ll hear a voicemail that sounds exactly like your head of school asking you to authorize a financial transaction. You’ll analyze messages designed to hijack your emotions, pressure your judgment, and bypass your critical thinking. You’ll see how images from your school's own website can be weaponized to attack reputations, endanger safety, or manipulate thinking. Alongside these simulations, you’ll build practical habits of cognitive defense: learning how to slow down, verify sources, and recognize manipulation before it takes hold.

SESSION HOST: Jenna Pirani