White House announces K-12 cybersecurity plans

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With often limited funding, schools are looking for ways to improve their cybersecurity practices. The White House has announced steps for providing resources for K-12 schools to update their cybersecurity. Resources include:

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing establishing a pilot program under the Universal Service Fund to provide up to $200 million over three years to strengthen cyber defenses in K-12 schools and libraries in tandem with other federal agencies that have deep expertise in cybersecurity.

The U.S. Department of Education will establish a Government Coordinating Council (GCC) that will coordinate activities, policy and communications between, and amongst, federal, state, local, tribal and territorial education leaders to strengthen the cyber defenses and resilience of K-12 schools. By facilitating formal, ongoing collaboration between all levels of government and the education sector, the GCC will be a first step in the Department’s strategy to protect schools and districts from cybersecurity threats and for supporting districts in preparing for, responding to and recovering from cybersecurity attacks.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly released K-12 Digital Infrastructure Brief: Defensible & Resilient, the second in a series of guidance documents to assist educational leaders in building and sustaining core digital infrastructure for learning.

CISA is committing to providing tailored assessments, facilitating exercises and delivering cybersecurity training for 300 new K-12 entities over the coming school year. CISA plans to conduct 12 K-12 cyber exercises this year, averaging one per month, and is currently soliciting exercise requests from government and critical infrastructure partners, including the K-12 community.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Guard Bureau are releasing updated resource guides to ensure state government and education officials know how to report cybersecurity incidents.

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