Schools could be better protected against cyber attacks if FCC approves changes pushed by 1100 districts

Schools across the country are under attack, increasingly held hostage to ransomware and other vicious online assaults costing more than $10 billion a year in downtime alone. Contracts, tax forms, and passports, along with social security numbers, birth dates, and addresses for students, parents, and staff are up for grabs on poorly secured networks that are easily taken hostage. This is why more than 1,100 school districts, along with nearly two dozen groups, signed a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to react now. The FCC recently announced a three-year, $200 million trial to study how to best help schools secure themselves, but advocates for improved cybersecurity for schools said there's a much quicker and more efficient way to help schools immediately. The FCC collects $3 billion every year in fees from telecommunications companies to help schools build out their broadband networks. Cybersecurity advocates say some of that money could be used to help schools secure those networks right now, if the FCC agreed to make immediate adjustments to the framework for the use of those funds.