Cybersecurity is top concern for education technology leaders

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A recent report by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) analyzed the cybersecurity priorities of education technology (EdTech) leaders. The report offers insight into the challenges that K-12 EdTech leaders have faced over the past year.

According to the report results, districts are modernizing their digital ecosystems; however, the increase in cybersecurity threats, the development of internet of things (IoT) and the speed at which new technologies emerge have created a K-12 technology environment that is drastically different than 10 years ago.

Over 10 years, the top challenge for EdTech leaders has not changed — budget constraints and lack of resources were ranked the number one challenge in 2013, and 10 years later, it still ranks as the number one challenge.

The top three priorities in 2013 were mobile learning, bring your own device (BYOD) and online assessment readiness. This year, cybersecurity tops the list, followed by network infrastructure, data privacy and security.

A third of EdTech leaders feel their district has sufficient resources to deal with cybersecurity issues, and 12% of districts don’t allocate any funds for cybersecurity defense. Most districts (66%) do not have a full-time cybersecurity position.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is now ubiquitous, with 95% of districts having implemented it today as compared to 55% in 2013. Eighty-five percent of districts are implementing Single Sign-On.

ON DEMAND: Business-impacting events such as severe weather, man-made disasters, and supply chain disruption are increasing in frequency and making impacts around the globe.

In today's rapidly evolving security landscape, organizations face an ever-growing array of disruptive events, security threats and risks. Traditional reactive approaches to security intelligence often leave businesses vulnerable and ill-prepared to anticipate and mitigate emerging threats that could impact the safety of their people, facilities or operations.