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Cybersecurity

The U.S. Department of Education recognizes the growing importance of addressing cybersecurity in educational settings and provides various technical assistance for both K-12 and higher education.

Multiple offices at The Department provide resources on cybersecurity, therefore this page will serve as a way to communicate information about the topic and curate resources in one place. Please note this page is not definitive or exhaustive and will be updated as new information and resources are developed. 

Resources for K-12 Districts and Higher Education Institutions

K-12

  1. A Parent’s Guide for Understanding K-12 School Data Breaches: Resource for parents of K-12 students to help understand what it means when a school has a data breach, as well as provides tools and best practices to help navigate the sometimes-confusing process of protecting students’ data in the event of a breach.  
  1. Addressing Adversarial and Human Caused Threats That May Impact Students, Staff, and Visitors: Resource helps plan for adversarial- and human-caused threats, such as cyber safety and cybersecurity, within K-12 schools and institutions of higher education 
  1. Building Technology Infrastructure for Learning Guide: Resource provides practical, actionable information to help school and district leaders (including superintendents, principals, and senior technology staff) navigate the many decisions required to build a technology infrastructure that supports digital learning. 
  1. Cyber Safety Quick Links for Protecting Youth: Empowering Students to Become Responsible Digital Citizens and Engage Online Safely: Resource gives families, students, and school safety teams key practical steps and quick links to Websites offering free cyber safety resources, tools, and training.  
  1. Cybersecurity Community of Practice: Forum for schools, school districts, institutions of higher education (IHEs), and community partners to collaborate, share, and learn from the experiences of others in the field.  
  1. Cybersecurity Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts: Resource focuses on addressing threats to a school’s or school district’s network and systems.   
  1. Data Breach Response Checklist: Resource includes a thorough checklist based on best practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), US-CERT, and other industry thought leaders to assist schools to evaluate and build strong incident response processes and plans to their unique requirements 
  1. Data Breach Scenario Training Kits: Resource includes packaged trainings developed by the Privacy Technical Assistance Center, designed to help educational organizations at all levels conduct internal staff development on data breaches 
  1. Data Security and Monitoring Training Best Practices: Resource provides best practices for data security and data management trainings for educational leaders and discusses key training concepts to follow, content, delivery methods, and possible audiences for these trainings. 
  1. Data Security Checklist: Resource assists stakeholder organizations with developing and maintaining a successful data security program by listing essential components that should be considered when building such a program, with focus on solutions and procedures relevant for supporting data security operations of educational agencies 
  1. Dear School Safety Partner: Cybersecurity and Cyber Safety: Resource provides information on cybersecurity for schools as well as steps education agencies can take, with the collaboration of parents, to protect student privacy while increasing the use of digital learning and video sharing platforms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  
  1. Integrating Cybersecurity with EOPs for K-12 Schools: Webinar focuses on the importance of cybersecurity and network protection for schools.  

Higher Education

  1. Federal Student Aid Cybersecurity Division: Federal Student Aid (FSA) provides compliance information and resources on this webpage. 
  1. Federal Student Aid Cybersecurity Announcements and Guidance: FSA consolidates its cybersecurity compliance information and resources on this page organized by key topical areas. 
  1. Integrating Cybersecurity with Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) for Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Webinar focuses on the importance of cybersecurity and network protection for institutions of higher education.  
  1. Ransomware Targeting Educational Institutions: Resource includes cybersecurity best practices and what to do if your institution falls victim to a ransomware attack. 
  1. School Closure Best Practices: Resource describes best practices, including how to properly inventory institutional records, decommission software and date, correctly sanitize data storage, and properly destroy data 

Other Federal Agencies Supporting Cybersecurity 

  1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity 
  1. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

Need More Info?

  • Contact ed.tech@ed.gov with questions.
  • Please Include “Cybersecurity Resources” in the Subject Line