The 2025 National K-12 Cybersecurity Leadership Conference
February 24-26, 2025 (San Diego, CA)
2025 Conference Sponsors
GUARDIAN
DEFENDER
Interested in sponsoring? Contact us.
Hosted by the K12 Security Information eXchange (K12 SIX) - and being produced in partnership with California IT in Education (CITE) and the San Diego County Office of Education - the 2025 National K-12 Cybersecurity Leadership Conference is a unique event designed to identify and share solutions and best practices to better defend the K-12 education sector from emerging cybersecurity threats, such as ransomware and data breaches. The third annual conference will be held February 24-26, 2025 in San Diego, California.
Be sure to sign up for the K12 SIX mailing list to receive notifications about the conference.
Who’s attending?
K-12 leaders and school technology practitioners from coast-to-coast, hailing from more than 32 states (as of 1/3/25)
Common job titles: CIO/Director of IT/Director of Technology, CISO, Network/Systems Engineer, Cybersecurity Analyst/Engineer/Manager, etc.
Featuring:
Pre-Conference (2/24) Tabletop Exercise, facilitated by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
“Capture the Flag” (CTF) Competition, managed by the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), U.S. Department of Education
General sessions led by: School Safety Task Force (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) and the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (U.S. Department of Education)
NEW: Confirmed speakers and sessions include:
“District Cybersecurity: Coverage, Claims, and Controls” by Lucas Anderson, Privacy and Cyber Risk Consultant, Brent Holman, Manager of Risk Management Resources, Texas (TX) Association of School Boards
“Bridging the Digital Divide: Leading K-12 Schools Through Cybersecurity Challenges” by Andrew Burras, IT Director, Community Academies of New Orleans (LA)
“MFA All the Things: My Experiences Implementing MFA” by Daniel Fradeneck, Cybersecurity Engineer, Detroit Country Day School (MI)
“Empowering K-12 Schools with Robust Cybersecurity: Implementing K12 SIX-Recommended Defenses” by Teri Green, Senior Director of IT, Kipp SoCal Public Schools (CA)
“Crafting a Comprehensive Cyber Incident Response Plan (CIRP)” by Jerry Jones, Executive Director of Technology Services, Sacramento County (CA) Office of Education
“Malicious Links, Student Hackers, and a Handful of Solutions” by Andy Lombardo, Director of Technology, Maryville City Schools (TN)
“Empowering K-12 Staff: Simplifying Cybersecurity and Protecting Sensitive Information” by Ben Odipo, Assistant Superintendent of IT, Myles Allen, Project Manager, Brian Troudy, Director of Networking and Infrastructure, and Selena Nunes, Cybersecurity Analyst, Corona Norco Unified School District (CA),
“Scaling Cyber Risk Management at a Regional Level” by Stuart Long, CIO, Northwest Regional ESD (NWRESD)/Cascade Technology Alliance (CTA), Michael Potter, IT Security Analyst, NWRESD/CTA, and Jacob Doxtator, Senior Systems & Security Engineer, NWRESD/CTA (OR)
“Taking Credit Cards? What Every K-12 Leader Needs to Know about PCI” by April Mardock, CISO, Seattle (WA) Public Schools
“Managing Upstream Without a Paddle - An Approach to Third-Party Risk Management” by Thomas Pigeon, Cybersecurity Manager, and Sean Sheridan, Security Architect, Dallas (TX) Independent School District
“Strengthening K-12 Cybersecurity: Protecting Operational Technology (OT) and School Infrastructure” by Michael Pry, Cybersecurity Strategist, and Melissa Milanak, Teacher, River Valley School District (PA)
“Enhancing Cyber Resilience through Advanced Threat Emulation Simulations” by Sterling Reeves, Cybersecurity Network Engineer, Nebraska (NE) Cybersecurity Network for Education
“When MFA Fails: Incident Response and Recovery” by Neal Richardson, Director of Technology/CISO, Hillsboro-Deering School District (NH)
“Building Cyber Resilience in K-12: Best Practices from the Frontlines” by Carlos Salazar, SOC Director, and Mark Bandala, Cybersecurity Engineer, San Diego (CA) County Office of Education
“The Global Education Security Standard Update” by Steve Smith, Executive Director, Access 4 Learning (A4L), Neal Richardson, Director of Technology/CISO, Hillsboro-Deering School District (NH), and Anthony Yaremenko, Program Manager, Cyber Resilience, Victorian Department of Education (Australia)
“Enhancing K-12 Cybersecurity: Malware Defense, EDR, and SIEM Best Practices” by Francisco Tamayo, Senior Director of Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy, and Vong Sopha, Cybersecurity Analyst, San Diego (CA) County Office of Education
“Protecting the North Wall: Cyber is Coming: Actionizing Top Recommendations from DHS, CISA, and K12 SIX” by Casey Wagner, Director of Technology/Data Privacy Officer, West Irondequoit Central School District (NY)
With more to be announced soon…