BOULDER, Colo.—March 3, 2020—ManagedMethods, a leading Google G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 data security and student safety platform for K-12 school districts, today released its State of K-12 Cybersecurity infographic, in partnership with the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center.
K-12 school districts are on the leading edge of adopting cloud technology, including G Suite and Office 365, to improve student experiences and operational efficiencies. At the same time, districts are not leading in cloud security. As a result, they are increasingly experiencing cybersecurity incidents that put student, staff, and community outcomes at risk.
The infographic begins with a breakdown of the total number of cybersecurity incidents affecting K-12 education industries in 2019, in which new research found 348 publicly disclosed incidents — a 185% increase year-over-year. Additionally, the infographic shows that districts with an enrollment of 2,500 to 9,999 students experienced 38.79% of cybersecurity incidents and urban districts with 10,000 or more students were most likely to experience an incident.
“It is more evident now than ever that K-12 school districts are increasingly the targets of cyber attacks and criminals show no sign of slowing down,” said Charlie Sander, Chief Executive Officer at ManagedMethods. “The unfortunate reality is that district IT departments are underfunded, understaffed, and at risk. We hope this infographic helps inform districts and their communities about the advanced attacks being used and how to better protect against them.”
Other Key Findings:
- 60% of the total cybersecurity incidents were due to a data breach or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data.
- Ransomware accounted for 17.82% of the total cybersecurity incidents.
- Worldwide cybercrime losses amounted to a total of $3.5 billion.
Not Leading in Cloud Security
- While there are over 80 million users of Google for Education and over 100 million Microsoft Education users, only 3% of districts are using cloud security products to protect their applications.
A webinar (co-hosted by EdTech Strategies and Global Resilience Federation) is scheduled for March 5 to share findings from the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center’s The State of K-12 Cybersecurity: 2019 Year in Review report. To register – and for more details – visit: attendee.gotowebinar.com.
A full copy of the ManagedMethods State of K-12 Cybersecurity infographic, including the rest of its findings, can be downloaded from the ManagedMethods infographics page.
About the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center
The K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center was launched in 2018 to build a knowledge base about the emerging cybersecurity risks facing U.S. K-12 public schools. It is maintained as a public service by EdTech Strategies LLC, a boutique consultancy focused on providing strategic research and counsel on issues at the intersection of education, public policy, technology and innovation. For more information, visit https://k12cybersecure.com.