As cyber attacks evolve, many K-12 education institutions are falling behind. With a new school year beginning, it's time for schools to think about the cyber risks students, staff and faculty face, and how the school can defend against these threats. 

Below, cyber experts share three major threats to school cybersecurity and provide advice for managing these risks. 

1. Scams 

Alex Quilici, CEO at YouMail:

The biggest cyber risk to schools is our kids. Everyone talks about protecting grandma, but the reality is younger generations are the ones getting scammed the most. Gen Z in particular is impatient, naive, and easy to trick. Scam texts and calls bombard them every day, and they have not yet learned to pause and question what they are seeing.

I always tell parents to protect their kids and educate them about these risks. One effective step is to have a family safe word that only your kids and you know. This can stop someone pretending to be your child from manipulating your family. Teaching kids to slow down and think before responding to messages is just as important.

Scams are no longer just emails. They come in texts, calls, and even through AI-driven voice messages. Families need to stay alert, and schools can play a role by educating students about online safety. The more kids understand how scammers operate, the less likely they are to fall victim.

2. Ransomware 

Heath Renfrow, Chief Information Security Officer at Fenix24:

Threat actors prefer to target organizations that are relied upon heavily by the public because this dependence ratchets up the pressure to pay the ransom. K-12 schools or districts cannot afford to be down for weeks, and in most cases, they do not have the right IT infrastructure to be able to recover on their own without paying the ransom. In addition, they rarely have robust security defenses, making them both attractive and easy targets. 

Today, most ransomware actors are also exfiltrating and threatening to publish sensitive data; considering the data taken from schools is highly sensitive information about students and faculty, you then have the perfect storm of pressure for extracting a ransom payment. Financially motivated ransomware actors are particularly interested in attacking K-12 because they are easy targets, typically have no recoverable backups, cannot afford to see schools shut down or private data on students and faculty released, and thus are likely to pay the ransom.

3. Compromised Passwords

Anne Cutler, Cybersecurity Evangelist at Keeper Security:

Schools face the same evolving cyber threats as large enterprises, but often without the same resources. Ransomware demands now average more than half a million dollars, while AI-generated phishing and deepfakes make it harder than ever to separate fact from fraud. At the same time, research shows that while 74% of parents believe schools are prepared for cyber threats, only 21% receive guidance on secure password management. That gap between perception and reality is exactly what cybercriminals exploit.

The cost of a cyberattack is measured not only in dollars, but in lost classroom time and compromised records, from sensitive student information to staff and faculty data. To close these gaps, schools don’t need endless new tools — they need the right ones. Strong password policies, multi-factor authentication and privileged access management are critical for mitigating the most common cyber threats, and limiting who can access sensitive systems and when. Combined with consistent training for staff and students, these measures create meaningful resilience for the vulnerable education sector.

Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With practical safeguards, the right tools and consistent awareness training, schools can build the resilience they need to keep their focus where it belongs — on educating students.