3 in 4 Administrators Expect a Security Incident to Impact Their School This Year -- THE Journal

Research

3 in 4 Administrators Expect a Security Incident to Impact Their School This Year

By Rhea Kelly
02/06/25

In an annual survey from education identity platform Clever, 74% of administrators admitted that they believe a security incident is likely to impact their school system in the coming year. That's up from 71% who said the same last year. Notably, the number of respondents reporting cyber attacks also increased: 36% in this year's survey compared to 31% last year.

For its Cybersecure 2025 Report, Clever surveyed more than 500 school administrators across the United States in Q4 2024 to get their perspective on the state of cybersecurity in K-12 education. About 52% of respondents had IT leadership roles, including director of IT, chief information officer, chief technology, and IT manager. Just 1.5% of respondents held a cybersecurity specialist role, perhaps reflecting a pervasive lack of cybersecurity resources in the field. In fact, respondents ranked cybersecurity staffing shortages as their biggest challenge (cited by 37%, compared to 32% last year), with budget constraints the second most pressing issue (cited by 23%).

Other key findings include:

Only 5% of students have multi-factor authentication protection, compared to 90% of teachers and 95% of IT staff.
1 in 4 school systems report an increase in cyber attacks targeting student accounts.
Just 24% of respondents feel "very confident" in their ability to protect student digital identities.
70% of respondents believe AI is increasing cybersecurity risks.
46% of school systems have some kind of process for evaluating AI in ed tech products, but only 9% have established formal vetting procedures.
More than half of respondents (53%) said their cybersecurity spending is insufficient to meet demands.

The report offers the following recommendations for schools and districts:

Prioritize student account protection, as students are prime targets for cyber attacks;
Modernize identity and access management by implementing a zero-trust security model supported by automated identity and access management tools;
Choose security solutions that reduce reliance on devices (which are often restricted for students) for multi-factor authentication; and
Partner with vendors, state agencies, and the ed tech community to create a transparent, effective cybersecurity ecosystem.

The full report is available on the Clever site (registration required).

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

HMH Launches Personalized Path Solution

Adaptive learning company HMH has introduced HMH Personalized Path, a K-8 ELA and math product that combines intervention curriculum, adaptive practice, and assessment for students of all achievement levels.
Discovery Education Announces Spring Lineup of Free Virtual Field Trips

This Spring, Discovery Education is collaborating with partners such as Warner Bros., DC Comics, National Science Foundation, NBA, and more to present a series of free virtual field trips for K-12 students.
4 Ways Schools Are Using Google AI Tools for Teaching, Learning, and Administration

In a recent blog post, Google shared an array of education customer stories, showcasing ways schools and districts are using AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM to transform both learning and administrative tasks.
Ed Tech Leaders Rank Generative AI as Top Tech Priority

In a recent CoSN survey, an overwhelming majority of ed tech leaders (94%) said they see AI as having a positive impact on education. Respondents ranked generative AI as their top tech priority, with 80% reporting their districts have gen AI initiatives underway, or plan to in the current school year.