It's an ongoing nightmare that leaves parents in the district, which suffered a breach two years ago, more informed by hackers than by school officials, who appear less transparent about what's happening.
Across the country, schools have become prime targets.
In 2022, 1,436 separate schools and colleges fell victim to cyberattacks, which affected over a million students.
Credit monitoring, which focuses on financial data, is ill-equipped to protect against these emerging threats.
Children are more immersed in technology than ever before, yet have limited engagement with cybersecurity.
These digital natives encounter technology at a young age, often without a full understanding of the risks they face.
How to Fix the Issues There is an urgent need to fix these problems because the security of all our children is at stake.
Surely the most technologically advanced nation in the world can do better to protect its most precious asset: personal information of future generations.
Fix Teacher Shortages Today's teachers face a stark reality: Even after years at the job, they earn half the salary of cybersecurity professionals, while working equally demanding hours and often with additional administrative responsibilities.
Ensuring the security of our children's data and fortifying their digital future necessitates a comprehensive approach encompassing technological enhancements, as well as competitive compensation and strategic recruitment for teachers.
This would greatly enhance the quality of overall credit-monitoring data, and parents wouldn't need to lock their children's credit or worry about losing protection when their paid service expires.
The White House's National Cyber Workforce and Education strategy underscores the urgency of cyber education in children's formative years.
While states like New York have taken steps by introducing computer science and data fluency standards, these initiatives fall short.
The current goal of digital proficiency is akin to teaching children to not start fires.
We need to go beyond and equip children with the skills to extinguish fires.
This demands comprehensive cyber-hygiene training - educating children on protecting their data during transmission, safeguarding their online identities, and effectively responding and mitigating attacks.
It's not sufficient for children to comprehend data co-option; they must grasp the potential exploitation of co-opted data.
A comprehensive K-12 cyber-hygiene program imparts the knowledge, tech-savvy media habits, and deception-recognition skills required to prepare future generations.
What we are really doing is selling our children's future.
It's essential to recognize that our actions today affect the futures of our children.
This Cyber News was published on www.darkreading.com. Publication date: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:16:00 +0000