GRC Viewpoint

K-12 Cybersecurity Act 2021 Is Now Legalized in the US

K-12 Cybersecurity Act is now legal in the United States. US President Joe Biden signed the Act into law in October 2021. The Act is perceived to be significant for the 2022 cyber security space in the country. Here is a detailed look into various aspects of the 2021 act.

The Act was introduced as a response to the ever-increasing data safety breaches in K-12 schools in recent years. There was an unusual rise in different types of malware and ransomware in the context of K-12 schools last year and in the recent past.

The Act is relatively simple:

It empowers the director of CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, to carry out a study within 120 days of a breach impacting any of the K-12 institutions.

As the next step, the director will be developing recommendations concerning cybersecurity guidelines because of the attack. This task will have a 60-days deadline and will be completed based on the analysis results.

Within about 120 days, an online training toolkit will be developed for the school officials.

This training toolkit will be focused on educating officials about the best practices of cyber security. Further, officials can also find out strategies to implement these guidelines.

The Act began through the efforts of James R.Langevin, a US representative. It is undoubtedly a timely move as cyber threats with respect to K-12 were found to be increasing.

Also, K-12 cybersecurity was in a vulnerable stage due to a lack of cyber training and knowledge. As a direct impact, school administrators or even teachers could not implement best practices towards cyber security. Interestingly, many even lacked a basic understanding of best practices.

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