Risk Management Planning

K12 SIX Invites Input for 2023-24 Updates to Essential Cybersecurity Protections Series

• By Kristal Kuykendall
• 05/30/23

Cybersecurity nonprofit K12 Security Information Exchange is inviting K–12 IT and network security practitioners to submit their input and feedback for the upcoming 2023–24 edition of the K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections Series of guides for public schools’ risk management efforts.

The K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections Series is developed by K–12 IT practitioners for colleagues in public schools and is aligned to federal cyber risk management recommendations and best practices. The guides establish “actionable baseline cybersecurity standards for U.S. school districts and provide guidance and tools to support their implementation.” 

The guides are updated annually or as needed to help school security officials keep up with the latest in cyber threats and technological developments; most recently, the K12 SIX school district self-assessment was updated to “incorporate planning tools to assist school systems to close the gaps in identified weaknesses,” the organization said in an email to THE Journal.

Details of the newest updates to the self-assessment guide are explained in K12 SIX’s recent webinar, “Kickstarting Your K-12 Cybersecurity Program: Where and How to Start”; the recording is available at K12SIX.org/k12-kickstart.

In preparation for updating the 2023–2024 Essentials Series, K12 SIX has issued an “open call” for feedback and input from IT practitioners and school security leaders, who can contribute their insights at https://forms.office.com/r/83YnbDDwz4. The deadline to submit feedback is June 30, 2023.

Learn more at K12SIX.org.