K12 SIX Updates K-12 Cybersecurity Recommendations for 2024-25 School Year
The K12 SIX Technical Working Group is pleased to release the 2024-25 updates to its popular ‘K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections’ series of products. The series includes three interrelated products:
What K-12 Leaders Need to Know - a short list of actionable cybersecurity defenses that all school districts should prioritize for implementation
Implementation Rubrics – defines implementation standards for each of the K12 SIX recommended defenses
District Self-Assessment Tool - helps K-12 leaders prioritize time and resources in communicating about and addressing the cybersecurity risks facing their school community and kickstarting their cybersecurity plans
Developed by K-12 IT practitioners, for K-12 IT practitioners—and aligned to cybersecurity risk management best practices—the K12 SIX Essentials series establishes baseline cybersecurity standards for U.S. school systems and provides guidance and tools to support their implementation. K12 SIX-recommended practices are designed to defend against the most common cyber threats facing school districts, including those identified by K12 SIX, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the U.S. Department of Education (ED), and school insurance carriers.
The 2024-25 School Year updates represent a refinement and enhancement to last year’s edition. While we retain our high-level recommendations (14 controls in 5 categories), numerous updates have been made to implementation guidance to reflect the evolving K-12 cybersecurity threat environment. In addition, alignments to both the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and the CIS Critical Security Controls have been updated to reflect their continued evolution.
Join us on October 22, 2024 at 1 pm ET for a webinar (“Protect Your Schools & Students: The K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections”) to preview the updates to the series and understand how school systems nationwide are putting them to use.