CISA releases guide to help safeguard K-12 schools from cyber threats

metamorworks/Getty Images

CISA’s report, which was mandated by the K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021, outlined a variety of steps that primary and secondary schools can take to bolster their cyber defenses.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a report on Tuesday outlining a variety of steps that K-12 schools and districts should take to enhance their cybersecurity practices, amid an increase in ransomware attacks and other digital threats targeting primary and secondary education institutions across the country. 

The report offered three voluntary recommendations to help schools bolster their cyber defenses, including investing in the highest-impact security measures and building toward “a mature cybersecurity plan,” identifying and addressing resource constraints, and focusing on “collaboration and information sharing.”

CISA’s report highlighted individual steps that schools could take to achieve these recommendations, such as implementing multifactor authentication to secure online accounts and data, developing a cyber incident response plan and working to secure funding from the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, and other similar programs, to enhance their cybersecurity practices. 

“As K-12 institutions employ technology to make education more accessible and effective, malicious cyber actors are hard at work trying to exploit vulnerabilities in these systems, threatening our nation’s ability to educate our children,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement. “Today’s report serves as an initial step towards a stronger and more secure cyber future for our nation’s schools, with a focus on simple, prioritized actions schools can take to measurably reduce cyber risk.” 

At least 45 U.S. school districts experienced ransomware attacks in 2022, including a ransomware attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District last fall that resulted in hackers leaking 500GB of pilfered data. While CISA said that the total number of cyber incidents affecting K-12 schools “is impossible to reliably quantify due to a lack of consolidated data,” it added that “reported incidents between 2018–2021 have risen from 400 in 2018 to an accumulated total of over 1,300” in 2021. 

The increase in cyber attacks targeting schools and districts has underscored the lack of available resources that school administrators and educators currently have to mitigate threats. CISA—which noted that it “hosted and facilitated a series of roundtable listening and feedback sessions with key stakeholder groups” to gather input for the report—said educators and school personnel expressed particular concerns to the agency about a lack of staffing and funding needed to adequately address cyber-related challenges.

Participants in the listening sessions highlighted the “extreme disparity in talent availability and funding” when it comes to managing cyber risks, as well as the fact that “most districts do not employ full-time cybersecurity personnel, and some smaller school districts may not even employ full-time IT staff.” In the instances where a school or district did employ a cybersecurity professional, stakeholders noted that these employees often “do not have up- to-date training or experience, in part due to limited resources for professional development.”

“We learned that what the sector needs most is resources, simplicity and prioritization,” CISA said. “Accordingly, this report strives to cut through the noise and offer clear steps that are prioritized to help K–12 organizations implement the most effective cybersecurity controls first.”

CISA’s report was mandated by the K-12 Cybersecurity Act, which required the agency “to study the cybersecurity risks facing elementary and secondary schools and develop recommendations that include cybersecurity guidelines designed to assist schools in facing those risks.” The legislation—introduced by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rick Scott, R-Fla.—was signed into law by President Joe Biden in October 2021. 

In a statement, Peters called the report “an important step to helping K-12 schools across the country protect themselves against cyberattacks that put the personal information of students and staff at risk.” 

“K-12 schools are increasingly targeted by criminal hackers, and this new resource from CISA makes easy-to-understand guidance about cybersecurity risks readily available to the schools that need it most,” he added. 

CISA also released an online toolkit that expands on the report’s recommendations to help K-12 schools and school districts manage and reduce cyber risks, including providing links to free cyber-related resources and trainings for education professionals.

CISA called the report “a starting point” and said it will continue “to partner with the K–12 education community, and work with technology providers to encourage provision of free or low-cost security tools and products that are secure by default and design.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.