Cybersecurity

Some 34,000 voting machines and 4,000 ballot scanners are being tested ahead of the November elections. Concerns about election integrity and security have been high despite the lack of evidence of manipulation or errors.

The Department of Homeland Security released the long-anticipated Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. A separate NOFO for the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program will follow.

A nationwide survey of education and state leaders conducted by the State Educational Technology Directors Association revealed that cybersecurity and digital equity remain top issues for K-12 schools.

Adversarial foreign nations might use data about specific politicians to blackmail them or troves of data about the public to refine disinformation campaigns, according to a Senate hearing. Getting that data could entail hacking or simply purchasing from data brokers.

Some students at a Minnesota school district received lewd emails recently, likely as a result of student email addresses being inadvertently, temporarily readable to anyone who had access to the Speak UP platform.

A California-based company temporarily shut down its education platform on Wednesday after discovering an intruder had generated messages containing an inappropriate image and sent them from parent accounts to staff.

With ransomware attacks against school districts becoming more aggressive amid the influx of digital tools being used in the classroom, digital identity management software could help save schools millions in payouts.

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners voted to extend the emergency declaration that followed an Aug. 27 cyber attack against government systems. This is the second time commissioners have voted to extend the declaration.

Forensic investigators say a ransomware attack in June that shut down the college's website and network systems could have given intruders access to first and last names, Social Security numbers and other data.

The New York state comptroller found Union Springs Central School District did not implement protections for sensitive data on mobile devices or properly restrict email access to read-only for non-district devices.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran announced the $750,000 educational grant for the Friends University cybersecurity program last week. The grant funding will go toward scholarships, technology and equipment.

While LAUSD is still investigating a cyber attack that crippled its network over Labor Day weekend, the FBI said criminal syndicates such as Vice Society are habitually targeting schools and hospitals.

A ransomware attack during Super Bowl week on San Francisco 49ers systems that breached nearly 21,000 individual ticket-holder and other files has resulted in a class action lawsuit filed against the organization.

Los Angeles Unified School District is unsure whether student academic records were accessed by hackers last weekend, though officials say they haven't seen evidence of Social Security numbers being accessed.

The new 125,000-square-foot school includes science labs, machine shops, a fabrication and engineering lab, and a “cyber range” where students can learn to detect and mitigate cyber attacks in a controlled environment.

Teachers at Los Angeles Unified School District had mixed feelings about teaching without much technology this week, while the LA Times revisited a cybersecurity audit that identified vulnerabilities in 2020.

Colorado officials have determined a cyber attack discovered by Fremont County officials in mid-August and which has limited county services for three weeks was carried out by a ransomware variant.

A Fulton County special grand jury is looking at an election data breach some 200 miles south of metro Atlanta, which legal experts say suggests that prosecutors are seriously weighing racketeering charges.