Security awareness and training
The primary cause of most cyberattacks stems from unintentional mistakes made by individuals and a lack of proper adherence to cybersecurity protocols. These simple errors create vulnerabilities—leaving your school exposed to malicious attacks.
Training educators, staff, and students can greatly strengthen your school's cybersecurity posture. A strong training and awareness campaign helps build a collective defense against cyberattacks, reducing the likelihood of successful breaches and minimizing the potential impact on your school's digital infrastructure and sensitive data.
Role-based cybersecurity training
Explore how you can support each of the stakeholder groups with role-based cybersecurity training and save any resources.
Students
Develop and implement age-appropriate cyber hygiene and security resources and instruction. Consider addressing relevant and tangible topics such as protecting passwords, protecting private information, and letting adults know if they made a mistake.
Resources to support students include:
- K-12 Blueprint & Microsoft Education's "Digital Defenders: Cybersecurity for K-12 Students" interactive course
- Minecraft Education's Cyber & Digital Citizenship resources
- CISA's Cybersecurity Awareness Program Student Resources
- Common Sense Education's Digital Citizenship curriculum
Staff
CISA recommends that all staff members receive annual training on phishing, email compromise, basic operational security (OPSEC), and password security.
Resources to support staff include:
- K-12 Blueprint & Microsoft Education's "Safeguarding Our Students: Cybersecurity for K-12 Educators" interactive course
- Microsoft Education's "Build cybersecurity resilience in K-12 classrooms with Microsoft tools" on Microsoft Learn
- CISA's Cybersecurity Awareness Program Parent and Educator Resources
Leaders
Ensuring that school leaders are well-versed in cybersecurity is paramount to safeguarding educational institutions against evolving cyber threats.
Resources to support leaders include:
- K-12 Blueprint & Microsoft Education's "Protecting Our Future: Cybersecurity for K-12 Leaders" interactive course
- Microsoft Education's "Boost K-12 school cybersecurity leadership with Microsoft tools" on Microsoft Learn
- CISA's Online Toolkit
Families and community
A proactive school cybersecurity solution acknowledges the importance of the community. Consider how your training program can serve parents, volunteers, and other residents to better support your learners and improve cybersecurity throughout your community.
Resources to support families and the school community include:
- Microsoft Education's "Prepare your child with cybersecurity essentials" on Microsoft Learn
- CISA's Cybersecurity Awareness Program Parent and Educator Resources
Next steps
Think about the steps you already took towards cybersecurity training with students, staff, leaders, and families. Answer these questions:
- How could creating awareness about cybersecurity through role-based training or other programs fit into your existing work?
- What needs do you still have? How could these resources fill the gaps?