California Wants to Improve Cybersecurity Protections at School

We often worry about cyberattacks at work or at home. But what about at our children’s schools? As reported by CBS News Sacramento, a new California bill is working its way through the legislature that would expand cybersecurity protections to include elementary and high schools.

Following an investigation, CBS News reports only one out of 50 California schools they interviewed actually had a cybersecurity policy in place to protect their students’ privacy. Many schools have seen cyberattacks in recent years, highlighting the importance of these policies, or the lack thereof.

The state originally told CBS News there was not a requirement to report ransomware attacks to either state or federal entities. Since then, California has expanded the law to mandate schools report any cyberattacks that impact more than 500 people. The new bill would require the agency collecting these reports to share these reports with other schools.

But parents are not in the loop in any case. One school, which did not report two cyberattacks it had experienced to families, told CBS News it would only ever tell parents based on the advice of the insurance group it works with. In fact, there’s been a recent decrease in reporting.

While that won’t be resolved with this bill, it would, nevertheless change things for the better. Luckily, it appears based on current reporting the bill faces no opposition as it enters California’s Senate, after passing the State Assembly successfully.

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash