Press Releases and Announcements
Founded in 2020 by the Global Resilience Federation, the non-profit K12 Security Information eXchange (K12 SIX) serves as the information and sharing analysis center exclusively for the U.S. K-12 education community. For inquiries, contact us.
Call for Public Input: Essential Cybersecurity Protections for K-12 Schools (2025-26 SY)
The K12 SIX Technical Working Group is pleased to open a call for public input into the 2025-26 school year update and revision to the K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections Series. The goal of the series is to communicate the most important defenses that K-12 school systems can implement to dramatically reduce the cybersecurity risks they are facing. Entering its fourth annual update and revision cycle, it is an opinionated framework, emphasizing accessibility and pragmatism over comprehensiveness.
K12 SIX Contributes to Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report
K12 SIX - alongside other Global Resilience Federation communities - is pleased to have contributed to the Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR).
The Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) focuses on the analysis of anonymized cybersecurity incident data that Verizon collects every year from almost a hundred data contributors. Those data points are normalized using the Vocabulary for Event Recording and Incident Sharing (VERIS) framework, which provides a foundation for statistical analysis of this type of data.
PowerSchool Cyber Incident FAQ
On January 7, 2025, the edtech software provider, PowerSchool, announced a cyber incident to its customers across the U.S. Since the company has not posted any information about this incident on its public-facing website, the purpose of this FAQ is to provide some preliminary information about the incident directly to the K-12 community. While members of K12 SIX have benefitted from numerous ad hoc briefings and resources to date, this FAQ is being provided as a public service to the K-12 community. It is unofficial and will be updated periodically as information becomes available.
K12 SIX Updates K-12 Cybersecurity Recommendations for 2024-25 School Year
The K12 SIX Technical Working Group is pleased to release the 2024-25 updates to its popular ‘K12 SIX Essential Cybersecurity Protections’ series of products.
Developed by K-12 IT practitioners, for K-12 IT practitioners—and aligned to cybersecurity risk management best practices—the K12 SIX Essentials series establishes baseline cybersecurity standards for U.S. school systems and provides guidance and tools to support their implementation. K12 SIX-recommended practices are designed to defend against the most common cyber threats facing school districts.
Secure Our Schools: K12 SIX Aims to Shore Up School Cybersecurity During Cybersecurity Awareness Month
K12 SIX is pleased to announce a series of new resources and events designed to help U.S. school systems better defend their school communities from emerging cybersecurity threats such as ransomware and data breaches. During October 2024—in support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month—K12 SIX will host a weekly webinar series, release annual updates to its widely relied upon K-12 cybersecurity recommendations, and share exciting new agenda/speaker information about for the upcoming National K-12 Cybersecurity Leadership Conference.