Students Are The First Line Of Digital Defense, It’s Time To Treat Them Like It

Earlier this year, North Dakota made history as the first state to make cybersecurity a high school graduation requirement. As a result, The Peace Garden State calls for every school – across all grades from elementary through to senior students – to receive instruction on cybersecurity or computer science content. It’s a revelatory decision based on common sense.

Now, in the face of rising cyber threats and ransomware payments, students online will be able to better protect themselves and their schools. The idea is to prepare today’s students for tomorrow by teaching them about strong passwords, phishing attacks, and device management.

Let’s explore why introducing the subject into curriculums will help stop bad actors and bring students to the front lines of education cybersecurity.

Education in hacker crosshairs

The reality is that schools are increasingly under digital attack. The pandemic brought remote opportunities and online platforms but new risks. In the past year, 1 in 4 schools were victims of cyberattacks, causing billions of dollars of downtime.

The reason is that schools have never been this connected. In a survey, 90 percent of educators said there was at least one device for every middle and high schooler. And more endpoints can bring more vulnerabilities.

Ransomware is particularly threatening in this paradigm. School districts hit by ransomware last year represent about 2000 schools, almost double the amount of K-12 schools compromised in 2021. In these hacks, bad actors infiltrate school networks and threaten to leak data.

This happened last year when hackers stole more than 500 gigabytes of information from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Names, addresses, and social security numbers across 250,000 files were soon for sale on the dark web.

Policymakers and educators are moving to fix this problem, with 3 out of 4 school districts increasing their spending on security and privacy in the coming years. For best results, those efforts should begin immediately.

Three ways schools can improve cybersecurity

School districts and the wider education sector should direct their cybersecurity focus on three areas. First and foremost, training. Two out of three administrators say that the most likely education security incident would be unauthorized access due to human error. So, upskill both sides of the education equation—students and teachers.

Students can quickly become an integral part of school cyber defense with classes. Here, they can learn about detecting phishing attempts, using email security best practices, avoiding weak passwords, and flagging incidents up the IT chain of command. Likewise, bring teachers along for the ride. Two-thirds of teachers want to learn more about data privacy and security topics. Specifically, they want guidance on selecting resources that safeguard student data privacy and instruction on account security for applications with access to sensitive information.

Second, better support school cybersecurity leaders. Teachers and administrators agree that schools require better technology solutions and more staff focused on technology. Unlock funding to make this possible.

Third, analyze the weakest elements of your technology stack and defend accordingly. For example, one-third of teachers and administrators believe devices pose the biggest security vulnerability in schools. Therefore, opt for solutions that secure these devices. A unified endpoint management platform, for example, can manage multiple devices from a single console. These platforms also offer app blacklisting, device encryption, and threat management to keep schools safe.

Protecting school and state

North Dakota broke the mold and ushered cybersecurity into the school curriculum. But the federal government is also starting to give this topic more attention. In April, The Department of Education and The White House National Security Council hosted a joint panel on how cybersecurity education can protect democracy. Officials outlined how educated students can forge varied careers that protect our communities. Moreover, they emphasized that cybersecurity is a fast-growing, high-paid, and in-demand workforce.

Though no new cybersecurity resources were announced by the panel, school districts can utilize some of their career and technical education grants—the largest federal funding source for high schools—to actively develop career pathways in the sector. EdWeek Research Center research reveals about 20 percent of schools currently offer cybersecurity as a standalone course. However, with added federal interest and growing threats, this will grow in the coming years.

School districts must remember that cybersecurity is a team sport and that students are key players. Better education in this direction not only protects schools but creates cyber-secure citizens ready for the modern world.

North Dakota made history—and now there are 49 states to follow.