Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Audits

Audit: Cybersecurity Weak for Many Kansas School Districts

Many Kansas school districts aren’t taking basic steps to protect their computer systems and the privacy of sensitive information collected about students, according to a legislative audit release Tuesday.

Many Kansas school districts aren’t taking basic steps to protect their computer systems and the privacy of sensitive information collected about students, according to a legislative audit release Tuesday.

The report from the Legislature’s auditing agency based its conclusions on a survey sent to the state’s 286 local school districts, with 147, or 51% responding.

The audit said that more than a quarter of the school districts surveyed didn’t have antivirus software on all computers, with figure rising to about a third for districts with 500 or fewer students.

Only 34% of districts said they scanned computers for vulnerabilities at least once a month, while 35% said they never did it, the auditors said.

More than half of the school districts surveyed or 56% said the competitive salaries required to attract information technology workers represented a significant barrier to having enough IT staff.

The auditors recommended that lawmakers consider directing the State Department of Education to develop minimum cybersecurity standards for school districts.

The department’s top administrator, Education Commissioner Randy Watson, said in a written response that setting such standards would require the agency to increase its IT staff to help districts and to audit them.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Related: Microsoft Sees Spike in BEC Attacks Targeting Schools

Related: Officials Say School District Near Albany Hit by Cyberattack

Related: Large Florida School District Hit by Ransomware Attack

Written By

Click to comment

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join security experts as they discuss ZTNA’s untapped potential to both reduce cyber risk and empower the business.

Register

Join Microsoft and Finite State for a webinar that will introduce a new strategy for securing the software supply chain.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Cycode, a startup that provides solutions for protecting software source code, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $4.6 million in seed funding.

CISO Strategy

SecurityWeek spoke with more than 300 cybersecurity experts to see what is bubbling beneath the surface, and examine how those evolving threats will present...

CISO Conversations

Joanna Burkey, CISO at HP, and Kevin Cross, CISO at Dell, discuss how the role of a CISO is different for a multinational corporation...

CISO Conversations

In this issue of CISO Conversations we talk to two CISOs about solving the CISO/CIO conflict by combining the roles under one person.

CISO Strategy

Security professionals understand the need for resilience in their company’s security posture, but often fail to build their own psychological resilience to stress.

Management & Strategy

SecurityWeek examines how a layoff-induced influx of experienced professionals into the job seeker market is affecting or might affect, the skills gap and recruitment...

Cybersecurity Funding

2022 Cybersecurity Year in Review: Top news headlines and trends that impacted the security ecosystem

Endpoint Security

Today, on January 10, 2023, Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) and Windows 8.1 have reached their end of support dates.