K-12 Cybersecurity – Join the MS-ISAC

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to virtual learning, the cybersecurity risk to schools has only increased. School districts now rely more heavily on remote access technology and cloud services, which open up new avenues of cyber-attack. Additionally, there are now many more external devices accessing school and district networks, which further increases the cybersecurity risk to K-12 school districts and everyone that relies on those networks.

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Cyber Defense Support for Public K-12 Schools

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®) is the focal point for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) governments. Membership is open to all K-12 public schools in the U.S.

A division of the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®), the MS-ISAC collaborates and shares cybersecurity information among its 10,000 members, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and private sector partners.

This network is an extremely beneficial resource to keep educational institutions informed of the latest cyber threats. By joining the MS-ISAC, K-12s join more than 2,000 public schools and districts who share cybersecurity information to improve their readiness against common threats at no cost.

More Resources Available for K-12 Schools

Four Major Benefits of Joining the MS-ISAC for K-12s

1. It is free to join and members get 24x7x365 support

All public K-12 schools are eligible to take advantage of member services, including the 24x7x365 Security Operations Center (SOC) at no cost. Learn more

2. Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR)

An easy way to reduce vulnerability and strengthen defenses, MDBR technology blocks your students and staff from accessing known bad websites. This is especially effective at blocking ransomware links in phishing e-mails. Learn more

3. Regular Advisories from the SOC

The MS-ISAC SOC analyzes cyber threat information from a variety of sources and shares this information with MS-ISAC members when necessary. Advisories can include important information about threats, vulnerabilities, attacks, and compromises.

4. CIS SecureSuite® Membership

No-cost access to integrated cybersecurity resources for implementing and assessing CIS Benchmarks™ and CIS Controls® cybersecurity best practices. The tools included in Membership help users evaluate and apply secure configuration settings to laptops, servers, network devices, and more. Enroll in CIS SecureSuite Membership

Join the MS-ISAC Today at No Cost

When a cyber incident occurs, K-12 public school districts can devote precious resources to incident response services and other costly remediation efforts, including network upgrades. However, K-12 schools and districts can greatly reduce their risk simply by joining the MS-ISAC at no cost.