November 16, 2021
Some U.S. senators have recently made an urgent appeal to the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to aggressively step up cybersecurity protections at K-12 schools across the country.
The call came after a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showed that plans put in place to address k-12 schools threats are outdated and focused primarily on stopping physical threats. The four senators who introduced the demands include Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
Although the GAO report highlighted the vulnerability of K-12 schools, it highlights some steps that need to be taken to include a meeting between the Department of Education and CISA to determine how to update existing plans.
The senators also endorsed this position when they stated that “an updated subsector-specific plan will help the Department of Education and DHS effectively prioritize the risks, cyber and otherwise, to the Education Facilities subsector, while subsector-specific guidance would help K-12 schools better use existing cybersecurity frameworks and implement best practices.”
For more information, read the original story in Bleeping Computer.
