With local schools increasingly under cyberattack, a new resource can help bolster defenses

Over the last decade, conversations about the security of local schools have risen to the forefront of public discourse—and not just concerning physical security. In the digital realm, cyberattacks on public institutions including K-12 school districts are increasing at an alarming rate.

A new report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), “Partnering to Safeguard K-12 Organizations from Cybersecurity Threats,” seeks to help school districts “address systemic cybersecurity risk,” according to a statement about the research issued by the federal agency. CISA published a complimentary toolkit along with the report. “It also provides insight into the current threat landscape specific to the K-12 community and offers simple steps school leaders can take to strengthen their cybersecurity efforts.”

Given the important role schools play in society, the report stresses a need for administrators to take action. American K-12 schools serve more than 50 million students, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And from 2018 to the present day, schools in just about every state have reported experiencing a cyberattack. Reported cyberattacks have risen from 400 in 2018 to an accumulated total of more than 1,300 since then, the report says. The majority of those incidents have been some sort of data breach. Ransomware attacks were the second most cited incidents.

To bolster defense measures, the report provides three simplified recommendations: Invest in those cybersecurity measures that are the most impactful; recognize resource constraints and work to address them; and collaborate by promoting information-sharing.

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