Security

Cybersecurity Remains the Top Concern for School IT Leaders for the Fifth Year Straight

In its 10th annual survey, the Consortium for School Networking notes that a “complexity of challenges” faces today’s leaders

Taashi Rowe

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Taashi Rowe is the managing editor for EdTech: Focus on K-12 magazine.

Since appearing on the first Consortium for School Networking’s State of EdTech Leadership survey in 2013 as a low priority, the topic of cybersecurity has skyrocketed in importance to K–12 IT leaders. The 2023 report, released in May, revealed that among the 1,200 ed tech leaders surveyed, cybersecurity remains their top concern for the fifth year in a row.

Despite its importance, only a third of respondents say their district has sufficient resources to deal with cybersecurity challenges. Additionally, 66 percent of districts do not have a full-time cybersecurity position on their IT staff, and another 12 percent have no funding for cybersecurity defense.

Limited Budgets Make Funding Cybersecurity a Challenge

Keith Krueger, CoSN CEO, says this year’s report highlights a “complexity of challenges” that are placing incredible pressure on school ed tech leaders and their limited budgets and staff.

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The report also found that for K–12, budget constraints and a lack of resources have remained a top technology challenge for the past 10 years, which has had a direct impact on cybersecurity efforts.

“Cybercriminals have recognized that districts are data-rich and are a soft target,” he says. “That is why it’s critical that E-Rate cover modern firewalls, which is the minimum requirement for cyber protection. The recent FCC proceeding on this update demonstrated overwhelming need and support for this essential policy action.”

DIG DEEPER: Get answers to the most common E-Rate questions.

Fewer K–12 Schools Fund Broadband from Home

The report also revealed that the percentage of district-provided broadband for K–12 students has dropped from 95 percent in 2021 to 74 percent in 2022. And while 97 percent of districts report that more than 50 percent of their students have connected devices at home, only 9 percent reported that all of their students had broadband at home. This means the homework gap will persist for students in rural areas and for families without the financial resources to pay for broadband services.

Cyberattacks in Education Spike 4.5% Over the Past Year, IBM Reports

A recent IBM report analyzing cyber incidents among the company’s customers saw cyberattacks in education grow from 2.8 percent of all attacks in 2021 to 7.3 percent in 2022. Here’s a breakdown of the attack vectors used against education respondents:

20% Backdoor attacks
13% Ransomware attacks
13% Adware attacks
13% Spam attacks

IBM Security’s X-Force Threat Intelligence Index for 2023 came to those conclusions after analyzing billions of data points across 10 industries globally. While attacks in the education space have not grown as fast as in manufacturing — which saw a 24.8 percent increase — education surpassed healthcare, which saw an increase of only 5.8 percent.

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