Cybersecurity tops the list of State Ed-tech priorities but it is running short of funds: Survey

In this growing trend of artificial intelligence and machine learning, more and more things surrounding us are automated. No doubt it lands with numerous benefits for mankind but in this play of data, cybersecurity is gaining a big concern and companies are handling it with priority.

Cybersecurity has become a priority for top state ed-tech, but it seems they are running in lack of funding for it, a survey of education technology and digital learning leaders from US state education agencies reveals that. As students return to another school year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report drops light on how state education agencies and policy-makers are redesigning for an increasingly digital learning, post-pandemic world. The 2022 State EdTech Trends Survey Report, declared by the State Educational Technology Directors Association in collaboration with Whiteboard Advisors, brings out the results of SETDA's flagship annual State EdTech Trends Survey of ed-tech directors, state superintendents, chiefs of staff, and other senior state officials from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Activity (DoDEA), and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The report survey on basis of interviews with leaders in several states spotlights their attempts to adopt digital learning. "Our job at the state is to advocate for what districts need and to promote our mentality that we are all in this together to help our students achieve," mentioned Rob Dietrich, Senior Director of Teaching and Learning at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. "This survey is so important because it shows the first attempt to record the shifts taking place in state education agencies as they adapt to a digital world," commented Jhone Ebert, Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Nevada Department of Education and author of the report's preface. "In the process of doing so, its flashlight tremendous work is going on in states across the country while also pinpointing opportunities for further discussion, collaboration, and refinement."

As schools rapidly increase their turn to artificial intelligence technology, the risk of cyberattacks has also enlarged. Cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated by adapting upgraded techniques for fraud. State and federal lawmakers are paying attention to this problem, but according to SETDA's survey results, there are more steps needed to overcome it. Cybersecurity is "getting a lot of recognition because you could take down a whole school, and when you take down a school, you trouble the community," mentioned SETDA Executive Director Julia Fallon. "We've learned from the pandemic that closing school is a big problem. It impacts the community in negative ways."

After unbiased internet access, cybersecurity came up as one of state ed-tech leaders' top concerns, the survey reveals. Seventy percent of SETDA survey respondents said that their state education agency or at minimum one district in their state was the sufferer of a cyberattack in 2021. As the 2022-23 school year began, a large number of school districts have been the victim of cybersecurity attacks. In recent times, US's second-largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, was targeted by cybercriminals over the Labor Day weekend.

Although cybersecurity is a top priority for state ed-tech leaders, it is one of the top three unmet technology requirements, the survey points out. Only 8 percent of respondents commented that their state provides "sufficient" funding to cybersecurity risk mitigation efforts; 40 percent mentioned their state allocates "very little" funding. A 54 percent of respondents admitted their state has ample initiatives or efforts related to cybersecurity. on the other hand, only 24 percent admitted that their state supplies cybersecurity tools or resources. Keith Krueger, CEO of the non-profit Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), mentioned that the SETDA survey "amplifies what we've undeniably been hearing from school districts." "The attack on LA Unified indicates that state departments of education and policymakers at the state and federal level have simply not provided the resources that school districts need."