Feedback sought for FCC’s proposed $200M school, library cyber program>
SC Magazine –
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated a public comment period for a proposed “Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program,” which aims to allocate up to $200 million over three years to support K-12 schools and libraries.
The program seeks to gather input on cybersecurity and advanced firewall services essential for enhancing cyber defense in educational institutions.
Additionally, the FCC aims to establish eligibility criteria and metrics to assess the effectiveness of the initiative.
The FCC’s emphasis on government-provided cybersecurity resources reflects a growing recognition of the need for enhanced cybersecurity measures in educational environments.
The initiative was prompted in part by a Government Accountability Office report calling for federal support to protect schools from a range of cybersecurity threats, including phishing, distributed denial-of-service, and ransomware attacks.
The urgency of this support was underscored by ransomware incidents compromising the data of over 600,000 K-12 students in 2021\) Public comments for the proposed program will be accepted until the end of the month.
Link: https://www.scmagazine.com/brief/feedback-sought-for-fccs-proposed-200m-school-library-cyber-program