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Oct 17, 2023 · There, we shared a K-12 Cybersecurity Guidebook that includes best practices to help school IT administrators prepare to return to school safely. For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’re sharing a few highlights from the guide — now available in more than 20 languages — plus other helpful resources.
Improving K-12 Cybersecurity: First Steps. Attacks against K-12 schools and districts have disrupted and closed schools, exposed sensitive data of students, their families, teachers, and...
- Amplify Your Prevention and Protection Capabilities. Conducting a thorough inventory of all hardware and software assets can help districts get a sense of what they’re trying to secure, says Randy Rose, senior director of cyber threat intelligence at the nonprofit Center for Internet Security.
- Institute Detection and Response Practices. Once districts identify their potential problem areas, the second phase is to develop a comprehensive approach to swiftly identify and contain any breaches that may occur.
- Prepare for Potential Recovery Needs. If a cybersecurity incident occurs, schools must be ready to address it while also maintaining crucial network operations.
- Mitigate Risk by Partnering with an Expert. While cybersecurity and student data privacy are the top two tech priorities for U.S. K–12 IT leaders, cybersecurity risks are often underestimated, according to a recent report from the Consortium for School Networking.
- Network and Data Monitoring. Network and data monitoring can identify malicious activity if properly managed; typically, this priority is covered by a combination of technology and IT administrators, or managed by an outsourced cybersecurity service, such as Critical Insight.
- Incident Detection and Response. The Pennsylvania Department of Education Teacher Information Management System holds the personal information of 330,000 professional school staff across the state.
- Vulnerability Scanning and Patch Management. Regular vulnerability scanning can help prevent exploits on documented vulnerabilities. Vulnerability scanning technology is only as useful as the organization’s follow-through—if technology is out of date, schools may hold off on patching well-known vulnerabilities.
- Protective Controls. Schools should leverage a common framework, such as the NIST-CSF, as a standard to identify and implement appropriate levels of protective controls.
- Recommendations For K-12 Organizations
- How Cisa Is Working with K-12
- How to Report K-12 Cyber Incidents
1. Invest in the most impactful security measures and build toward a mature cybersecurity plan. In an environment of limited resources, leaders should leverage security investments to focus on the most impactful steps. Begin with a small number of prioritized investments: 1. Deploy multi-factor authentication (MFA) 2. Mitigate known exploited vulne...
Cyberattacks, and the threat thereof, has strained resources and impacted delivery of critical education services across the nation. This has placed an untenable burden on our educational institutions and the populations that they serve and protect — children, parents, and educators. A continuing drumbeat of cyber intrusions is threatening the nati...
Every K-12 organization—large and small—must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber incidents. CISA stands ready to help you prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of cyberattacks. When cyber incidents are reported quickly, we can use this information to render assistance and as warning to prevent other organizations and entities from...
2 days ago · This can involve everyone in the school: Administrators and IT can work together to create comprehensive cybersecurity policies that outline expectations for staff and students. These policies should include topics like password strength, data protection, and acceptable use of technology. Schools should provide ongoing training for all staff on ...
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Schools and IHEs should leverage available Federal resources to learn more about cyber threats, assess their cybersecurity controls, address vulnerabilities, create a Cybersecurity Annex and an IRP, provide consistent trainings to staff and students, and implement cybersecurity best practices.
