As quoted in:

McCray, Vanessa. “Criminals in cyberspace make schools’ data a target.” Atlanta Journal Constitution. 24 December 2017.

There have been at least 283 cybersecurity incidents at K-12 public schools since 2016, according to a tally by education technology consultant Doug Levin. He thinks his count underreports the scope of the security troubles.

“These are new threats facing schools. They are harming individuals. They are disrupting school schedules and class time and they are costing schools and taxpayers a lot of money, and we are going to need an effective and…comprehensive response to it,” said Levin, president of Virginia-based EdTech Strategies.

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In extreme cases, hackers have terrorized communities, leading to temporary school closures.

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Levin, the educational technology consultant and researcher, said such breaches require high-level, outside expertise.

“When you have…exceptionally skilled, nefarious hackers targeting schools there’s very little that most schools are going to be able to do to protect themselves,” he said.