Among the 232 education-related cybersecurity bills that were introduced in 2022, only 37 were enacted compared to 49 in 2021. These efforts were "insufficient" in keeping districts safe from cybersecurity threats.
Cybersecurity instruction for educators appears to be lagging even as a large majority of districts are spending more to fight off ransomware and other cyberattacks.
"The fact that there seems not to have been any decrease in the number of incidents is concerning," according to a new report from antivirus software company Emsisoft.
Based on criteria such as hands-on program training, privacy and ethics, and government and national security, Carnegie Mellon University, DePaul University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University rank among the top three.
Several factors contribute to the inadequacy of budgetary spending for security, such as a lack of funding and the difficulty of hiring IT professionals.
The virtual K-12 program CYBER.ORG Range allows teachers to guide students through a controlled virtual environment where they can practice deploying and discovering cyberattacks in an effort to draw future candidates to the field of cybersecurity.
