Cybersecurity for School Districts & Public Higher Education
Cybersecurity for School Districts and Colleges
Ransomware-resistant security for districts with thousands of devices, small teams, and student privacy obligations.
Districts have been hit harder by ransomware than almost any other part of the public sector. They run large device fleets, open networks, and a long list of third-party learning platforms, with IT teams sized for classroom support rather than security operations.
What education environments look like
- One device per student, managed at scale across many sites
- Student information systems feeding dozens of learning, assessment, and communication platforms
- Staff email as a target for payroll diversion and vendor payment fraud
- Networks serving classrooms, administration, transportation, nutrition, and facilities
- Student data governed by FERPA and state student privacy statutes
- Teachers adopting new applications faster than any approval process can review them
Where HQT helps
- An assessment sized for a district team, with a remediation plan that fits the fiscal year and available grant funding
- Multi-factor authentication for staff, starting with anyone who can move money or change payroll, and conditional access for student accounts
- Backup isolation and restore testing for the student information system, finance, and file storage
- Rostering and single sign-on so that application access is granted and removed with enrollment and employment
- An application review process that gives teachers a path to approval instead of a prohibition they will route around
- Incident response planning with the superintendent's cabinet, including communications to families
How an engagement usually starts
Frequently after a cyber insurance renewal questionnaire, a state assessment, or an incident at a neighboring district. We prioritize the controls that insurers and auditors ask about first, because those are also the ones that stop the attacks districts actually face.