Protect Your Schools From Cybersecurity Threats: Join K12 SIX
Herndon, VA USA – February 8, 2021- U.S. public school districts, private school organizations, and state and regional education agencies are invited to join K12 SIX, a non-profit cyber threat information sharing community purpose-built to help secure the education sector from emerging cybersecurity risks.
K12 SIX, the Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Security Information Exchange, operates like an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) and is the only organization of its kind working exclusively to defend primary and secondary schools. The K12 SIX community helps school districts sort through security noise to prioritize actionable measures that need to be taken to keep cyber secure.
Within the K12 SIX collaboration platform, members can access alerts and indicators of compromise on malware like ransomware and threat actor campaigns like phishing and business email compromise scams. Members can share information about attacks they are experiencing in real-time while leveraging the resources and experience of K12 SIX intelligence analysts and their involvement with more than a dozen other sharing communities, the U.S. government, and select private security vendors.
While there is an abundance of guidance available to help IT leaders across sectors address common cybersecurity problems, the K12 SIX community lets members collaborate with trusted peers for information on best practices in the K-12 sector, leverage the technical expertise of the K12 SIX analysts, get discounts on security tools, and access a library of resources curated by the community’s subject matter experts specifically for their applicability. Examples of the many publications and tools cataloged in the community’s library include:
o Cyber Threats to K-12 Remote Learning – a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) produced document for non-technical leaders as they consider remote learning precautions, as well as links to other CISA materials
o Ransomware Guide - a joint guide from CISA and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) on best practices to prevent and respond to ransomware
o Data Breach Scenario Trainings - a series of packaged trainings developed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center, designed to help educational organizations conduct staff development on data breach incidents
o The K-12 Cybersecurity Self Assessment - a vendor-neutral, free, quick and anonymous self-assessment, based on the U.S. NIST Cybersecurity Framework, for school district IT leaders created by school district IT leaders
These are just a small handful of the resources, guides, and best practices available to K12 SIX members. In addition to these, K12 SIX members have access to a purpose-built information sharing portal, emergency notification system, curated reports and alerts, and regularly scheduled calls with analysts and other members.
Join K12 SIX today to reduce risks to your school, staff, and students. For a limited time, eligible members qualify for a free first year of membership. Learn more at www.k12six.org or join us on March 10, 2021 for the inaugural K-12 Cybersecurity Leadership Symposium. Attendance is complimentary and registration will soon be live on www.k12six.org.
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About K12 SIX
Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Security Information Exchange (K12 SIX) is a cyber and physical threat intelligence sharing hub for school districts, to aid in preventing and mitigating attacks. This non-profit member community is a cost-effective forum for crowdsourcing security information among a vetted, trusted group of professionals with a common interest, using common technology and with supporting, independent analysis from the K12 SIX security staff. Visit www.k12six.org to learn more. K12 SIX is a member of the Global Resilience Federation multi-sector network of information sharing communities.
For more information on the threat and the proposed path forward, watch “The State of K-12 Cybersecurity” panel discussion: https://www.k12six.org/the-threat. K12 SIX is providing a free one-year membership to the first 100 school districts that join. Contact info@k12six.org for details.
The K12 SIX secure collaboration platform was co-built with Cyware Labs, which has committed significant resources to support the community.
*NOTE: All public school district members of K12 SIX are also encouraged to join the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which is focused on mitigating cyber threats facing state and local governments. MS-ISAC provides free tools and services like their Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting service.