The pandemic has presented an unprecedented opportunity for cybercriminals, and there are no signs of it slowing down.
Check Point Security found that cyberattacks increased 40% worldwide from 2020 to 2021. Last month alone saw more weekly cyberattacks than any other month since January 2020.
One out of every 61 organizations worldwide is impacted by ransomware attacks every week. The companies most often targeted are education and research institutes.
“We have seen examples of school districts being compromised, not because the school district was the target, but some other more sensitive system — election systems, power systems (were the target),” said Doug Levin, the national director of the nonprofit K12 Security Information. “Federal agencies have really been the target, but they’ve leveraged that to compromise school district software and technology as a means to attack other even more critical targets.”
The federal government has a financial and security stake in helping school districts protect themselves from cyberattacks. That’s why today, the K-12 Cybersecurity Act became law.
The law commissions a study to issue recommendations and tools for school districts to defend…
