Risky Business: Taking a Risk-Based Approach to K-12 Cybersecurity

In world where a global pandemic forced a move to emergency online schooling for all our nation’s students, ransomware attacks regularly threaten to shut down school districts, and equitable access to high-quality anywhere, all the time learning is a necessary condition for unlocking human flourishing, education’s digital infrastructure has become critical infrastructure. And just as we design (and re-design) our schools’ physical infrastructure to be safe, secure, and accessible for learners, must align people, processes, and tools to create digital infrastructure that is secure, accessible, privacy-enhancing, and interoperable by design and default.

It may seem as though the responsibility for planning, implementing, and protecting our schools’ digital infrastructures lies solely with Chief Technology and Chief Information Officers. This approach may have been true two decades ago, but recent events in district and state cybersecurity have shown everyone has a role to play in the digital health and safety of school systems.

In this session we will investigate and outline the key actions and questions of central leaders in building an infrastructure that makes anywhere, all the time learning possible, safe, and secure.