A new survey of public sector IT professionals finds that the biggest data security threats come from a wide range of sources, from simple carelessness to intentional hacking from foreign governments.
Ransomware is the most significant cyber threat in the education sector, and K–12 schools and colleges and universities are both targets.
The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is encouraging public sector and critical infrastructure organizations to enroll in its new Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot program to receive notifications anytime a new relevant vulnerability being exploited by threat actors is identified.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/27/23
Two ed tech providers that suffered data breaches that compromised private student information have seen civil lawsuits reach vastly different results — yet both should serve as a stark warning for ed tech companies collecting student data, a data privacy attorney told THE Journal.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/26/23
School safety software provider Raptor Technologies has acquired SchoolPass and will integrate the latter’s cloud-based attendance automation and dismissal automation into the Raptor Tech platform, according to a news release.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/25/23
Identity and access management provider ClassLink has launched a new tool called DataGuard designed to reduce the amount of sensitive private data shared by schools with ed tech vendors, according to a news release.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/24/23
A new bill filed in both houses of Congress Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) would direct CISA to create a cybersecurity information exchange for K–12 schools, a voluntary incident registry, and a “Cybersecurity Technology Improvement Program” funded at $10 million per year for the next two years.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/20/23
Global Grid for Learning has unveiled its newest school data exchange solution designed to give schools better data analytics and control over data privacy while eliminating the need for vendors using the standards to access and share students’ protected private information, by using patented anonymization and API technology.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/18/23
Ransomware attacks targeting K–12 schools worldwide last year grew at an “absolutely massive” rate of 827% over 2021, according to SonicWall’s 2023 Cyber Threat Report, and the data shows that education customers — those whose data is compromised during ransomware attacks — had the highest percentage reporting ransomware attempts of all sectors studied.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/13/23
In the past week, CISA has published alerts on seven known exploited vulnerabilities — two of which put a long list of Apple devices at risk — ordering federal agencies to remediate the identified vulnerabilities immediately and encouraging all organizations to do the same.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 04/10/23