As K–12 schools increasingly rely on technology to drive their daily operations, a robust cybersecurity risk management framework is more important than ever. From distance learning and interactive classrooms to online assignment dashboards, educational spaces are moving online, introducing a myriad of challenges. Cybersecurity risk management is crucial to schools’ ability to operate effectively — regardless of whether the school is public, nonpublic, private, or independent.
Why cybercriminals target schools
While most K–12 institutions prioritize physical security measures, cybersecurity for schools frequently lags behind. Schools with insufficient IT resources and cybersecurity capacity are vulnerable to ransomware attacks and other types of attempted cybercrime — and threat actors know this.
Although educational institutions have the capacity to move fast to create multitudes of accounts for new students, parent volunteers, and other stakeholders, they rarely have the same speed and agility when it comes to navigating cyberattacks. Schools are, on average, significantly slower to recover than organizations in other industries: 40% took a week, 26% took more than…
