{"id":2467294,"date":"2025-07-27T11:56:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T15:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/districts-brace-for-growing-costs-as-cyber-criminals-target-schools-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T12:02:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T16:02:56","slug":"districts-brace-for-growing-costs-as-cyber-criminals-target-schools-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/districts-brace-for-growing-costs-as-cyber-criminals-target-schools-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Districts brace for growing costs as cyber criminals target schools &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdistricts-brace-for-growing-costs-as-cyber-criminals-target-schools-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2467294&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the increasing threat of cyberattacks targeting K-12 school districts, which are causing meaningful disruptions and financial burdens. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cornell-pressured-to-upend-dei-policies-on-eve-of-free-speech-year\/\" title=\"Cornell urged to reconsider DEI policies ahead of &#039;free speech&#039; year.\">notable incident involved<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/public-school-in-deep-red-ohio-town-forces-teachers-to-learn-definition-of-pansexual\/\" title=\"Ohio public ... mandates teacher education on &#039;pansexual&#039; definition\">rural school district<\/a> whose computer system was hacked during midterm exams, affecting not just testing but also meal services, childcare arrangements, and access to significant documents like transcripts. According to a report by the Center for internet Security (CIS), 82% of K-12 organizations experienced cyber incidents, with attacks frequently enough timed to coincide with critical periods such as exams. These cyberattacks have widespread community impacts, especially in areas where schools are central hubs for families, affecting children who rely on school meals and parents&#8217; ability to work. <\/p>\n<p>While many school districts have cyber insurance, coverage varies, and some costs ultimately fall on local taxpayers. The involvement of foreign state-backed hackers further complicates insurance claims. Recovery from attacks can take months, with financial losses ranging from tens of thousands to a million dollars. Some attacks also affect vendors serving schools, amplifying the impact.Cybercriminals have evolved tactics, including double extortion schemes and impersonating vendors to steal funds.<\/p>\n<p>Experts emphasize the need for schools to adapt their defenses, though cybersecurity investments are often overlooked compared to physical infrastructure improvements. Additionally, public discussions about security measures during streamed school board meetings can inadvertently expose sensitive information to hackers. the rising sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks pose ongoing challenges for school districts,their communities,and budgets.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Districts brace for growing costs as cyber criminals target schools<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2182176\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hackers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">hackers<\/a> stole a rural <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/schools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">school<\/a> district&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">computer<\/a> system last year, students in the middle of midterm exams were left frustrated, but concerns went far beyond testing.<\/p>\n<p>Cafeteria staff scrambled to help students who depended on school meals. Parents searched for childcare when district officials canceled classes. Seniors worried about college application deadlines while transcripts were inaccessible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3483355\/texas-becomes-7th-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat\/\">As Texas becomes 7th state to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >ban lab-grown meat<\/a>, Trump&rsquo;s FDA, USDA advance it<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3483301\/marc-veasey-dismisses-gabbards-russiagate-fight-as-effort-to-stay-relevant\/\">Marc Veasey dismisses Gabbard&#8217;s Russiagate fight as effort to &#8216;stay relevant&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3483324\/chicago-mayor-now-open-to-video-gambling-after-lawmakers-express-frustration\/\">Chicago mayor now open to video gambling after lawmakers express frustration<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>A report from the Center for Internet Security found such attacks are becoming more sophisticated, more frequent and more damaging to&nbsp;K-12 schools. CIS runs the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center with the goal of&nbsp;better&nbsp;overall cybersecurity posture&nbsp;for&nbsp;governments at all levels through coordination and collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 CIS MS-ISAC K-12 Cybersecurity Report found 82% of K-12 organizations experienced cyber incidents. Of the nearly 14,000 security events, 9,300&nbsp;were confirmed. It also found that attacks surge during high-stakes periods such as exams, disrupting education and forcing officials to make difficult decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Randy Rose, vice president of security operations and intelligence at the Center for Internet Security, said cyber attacks at school can have &ldquo;huge, broad implications.&rdquo; He pointed to the unnamed rural school district highlighted in the report. Like many other schools, it serves as a central hub in the community&nbsp;and&nbsp;school disruption can create a cascade of community problems.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Schools are&nbsp;really&nbsp;central to a community. So when&nbsp;they&rsquo;re impacted, it&rsquo;s far beyond just kids in classrooms,&rdquo; he told The Center Square. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re talking about their kids who only eat when they&rsquo;re in school. So if they&rsquo;re out of school, there&rsquo;s no food. There are parents whose lives&nbsp;are disrupted&nbsp;because they&rsquo;re unable to work, and&nbsp;a lot&nbsp;of those parents don&rsquo;t have jobs where they can take time off. So if they&rsquo;re not working, they&rsquo;re not making money, which&nbsp;has an impact on&nbsp;the local economy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Many districts have some form of insurance to cover cyber attacks, but&nbsp;those&nbsp;policies vary widely in what they cover after a breach, Rose said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Insurance will cover things like initial incident response. In some cases, they&rsquo;ll cover ransomware payments. Sometimes they won&rsquo;t,&rdquo;&nbsp;he&nbsp;said. &ldquo;Sometimes they&rsquo;ll require you to have a particular provider&nbsp;that does ransomware negotiations&nbsp;with the actors. But sometimes they stop short of actual recovery and future implementation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>What insurance doesn&rsquo;t cover usually ends up on local taxpayers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re having to pay massive amounts of money for restoration and ransomware payments, guess whose taxes&nbsp;are going to&nbsp;go up next?&rdquo; Rose said.<\/p>\n<p>It can get more complicated when foreign state-backed groups are involved.&nbsp;Some policies&nbsp;might&nbsp;consider that an Act of War, which isn&rsquo;t covered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Recovering from cyber attacks can take time, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-23-105480\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>&nbsp;from 2023.&nbsp;That report found the loss of learning after an attack &ldquo;ranged from 3 days to 3 weeks&nbsp;and&nbsp;recovery time ranged from 2 to 9 months.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The GAO report found&nbsp;financial losses to school districts ranged&nbsp;from $50,000 to $1 million.&nbsp;The GAO&nbsp;also noted that the &ldquo;precise national magnitude of cyberattacks on K-12 schools is unknown.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Experts said many attacks&nbsp;are not reported.&nbsp;The issue isn&rsquo;t limited to schools. It&nbsp;can affect the vendors that districts hire. In 2022, a cyber attack on Illuminate Education, an education technology company based in California, affected more than 1 million students, including students in New York, California, Connecticut, Washington, Oklahoma and Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Josh Bauman is the technology director at Festus R6 School District, located&nbsp;in&nbsp;Festus, Missouri.&nbsp;The district serves about 3,500 students at five schools near the&nbsp;Mississipi&nbsp;River and the state&rsquo;s border with Illinois. It&rsquo;s about 35 miles south of St. Louis. Outside of school, he hosts a K-12 Tech Talk podcast on cyberattacks, talking with school officials who have reported breaches. Most of the people on the podcast change details to protect the identity of the schools involved.<\/p>\n<p>He said simple things&nbsp;such&nbsp;as public-facing school&nbsp;calendars&nbsp;can give hackers an advantage.&nbsp;Since they know what&rsquo;s happening at the school, they can use information to make strikes more damaging, hit at key times, or wait until no one is in the building.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bauman said that ransomware attacks have morphed into double extortion-style attacks. First, the hackers will gain access, start extracting data, and then&nbsp;encrypt machines. They&rsquo;ll then ask for a ransom to get the machines back. If the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-school-district-pays-woke-kindergarten-group-20k-for-consulting\/\" title=\"California ... District Pays \u2018Woke Kindergarten\u2019 Group K For Consulting\">school district pays<\/a>, the hackers will threaten to post all the information they downloaded to the dark web unless they get another ransom payment.<\/p>\n<p>The latest trend has been hackers impersonating school vendors, which is also often public information that can be found on a district&rsquo;s website, to switch accounts and steal the money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bauman said that as the threats evolve, so must schools. In the case of a key vendor, for example, school officials may ask the company to come to the school in person to change any payment or account information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But unlike building a new cafeteria, gymnasium or upgrading sports facilities, money&nbsp;that goes into&nbsp;IT to prevent attacks isn&rsquo;t very flashy.&nbsp;Rarely is it something that district&rsquo;s are&nbsp;eager to spend money on, but some insurance policies require schools to have things like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-grills-tech-executives-on-solarwinds-hack\/\" title=\"Senate grills tech executives on SolarWinds hack\">multi-factor authentication<\/a> or procedures in place before they&rsquo;ll offer coverage, Bauman said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A 2023 report from S&amp;P Global Ratings&nbsp;found that cyberattacks have not affected schools&rsquo; credit quality or resulted in long-term operational problems. Successful attacks can prove costly, requiring technology investments, ransom payments, legal fees, cyber security consultant fees and costs associated with credit monitoring services for affected people, according to the S&amp;P report.&nbsp;That report found 50% of providers paid to get data back.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3475916\/us-education-crisis-utah-schools-model\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">THE REAL EDUCATION CRISIS IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One more problem: When Bauman and other technology directors discuss prevention efforts with school boards, those discussions often occur during public meetings streamed on the web.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be in a public setting and say, &lsquo;Oh, hey, we&rsquo;re using product X, Y, Z to protect our edge,&rsquo; and keeping in mind that the bad guys know our calendars, and if we&rsquo;re streaming our board meetings, it&rsquo;s a huge threat vector, we have to be very careful about what we say and where we say it,&rdquo; Bauman said.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecentersquare.com%2Fnational%2Farticle_2ef87b38-e109-479f-a1e7-4da2e7c436ae.html%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Duser-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2182176\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2182176\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Schools face rising costs as cybercriminals increasingly target districts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2467295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP19171078227771.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[46819,19536,5152,37749,32076],"class_list":["post-2467294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-cybercrime","tag-cybersecurity","tag-education","tag-school-districts","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP19171078227771.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467298,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467294\/revisions\/2467298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}