The COVID-19 pandemic forced schools across the nation to increase their reliance on IT to deliver educational instruction to students. This amplified the vulnerability of K-12 schools to potentially serious cyberattacks. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review cybersecurity in K-12 schools. The objectives of this report…

A cybersecurity incident is an event that actually or potentially jeopardizes a system or the information it holds. When a student's personal information is disclosed, it can lead to physical, emotional, and financial harm. Organizations are vulnerable to data security risks, including over 17,000 public school districts and approximately 98,000…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of schools across the nation, many K-12 schools moved from in-person to remote education, increasing their dependence on IT and making them potentially more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Education Facilities, including K-12 schools, is one of the nation's critical infrastructure subsectors. Several…

This document records testimony from a joint meeting of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development regarding public-private solutions to educating a cyber workforce. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable John Ratcliffe, Chairman, Subcommittee on…

This paper presents the first joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies of the Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. The subcommittees met to examine data collection…

Discusses a complicated appellate-court case upholding a Milwaukee high-school junior's expulsion for advocating computer hacking in a student newspaper. The decision is noteworthy for signaling a growing technology-related litigation trend, conflating the advocacy/incitement issue, and showing courts' decreasing tolerance for perceived threats to…

A complex case involving a disgruntled ex-employee's invasion of a college president's e-mail system resulted in a decision granting two plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment. This was the first recorded education-related collision on the electronic superhighway. Every educational institution should have a policy and procedure regarding what…

This report focuses on the pivotal technical issues associated with the National Information Infrastructure program, security and privacy, interoperability, and reliability, and presents the General Accounting Office's findings on these challenges. It is reported that while the structures and services to be offered by the information superhighway…

This report presents an evaluation of the general controls over the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) information system maintained and operated by a contractor for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), which administers FFELP. The evaluation found that ED's general controls over the FFELP information system did not adequately protect…

This document provides testimony on the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to ensure that its computer systems supporting critical student financial aid activities will be able to process information reliably through the turn of the century. After providing some background information, the statement recaps prior findings and the actions that…

This document defines the specific standards and general guidelines which the U.S. Department of Education (ED) will use to make information available on the World Wide Web (WWW). The purpose of providing such guidance is to ensure high quality and consistent content, organization, and presentation of information on ED WWW servers, in order to…

This book discusses issues related to campus crime and offers administrators suggestions and checklists that can be used to evaluate current procedures and defuse potential problems. Chapters cover: (1) "The Campus: A Sanctuary?"; (2) "The Complexion of Campus Crime Today"; (3) "The Concept of Crime and the Shape of…