WINOOSKI, Vt. (WCAX) – A Vermont school district has been selected as part of a nationwide effort to bolster cybersecurity to keep children’s data protected.
With technology constantly evolving, private information is more vulnerable than ever.
“As organizations are increasingly dependent on their information systems, defending those information systems is really critical,” said Adam Goldstein, a cybersecurity associate professor at Champlain College.
To beef up security online, the federal government is gathering data on how personal information can be protected, and they’re using schools and libraries to do it. The Winooski School District is the only district in Vermont chosen as part of a national pilot program.
“The specific funding for this pilot program will be to ensure there’s a blanket over our campus to protect our staff and student information going in and out,” said Matt Gonzalez, the district’s technology director. He says schools and libraries have historically been easy targets for attacks. “That just highlights the need for us, as school districts and software companies, to be as rigorous as possible for our cybersecurity.”
Gonzalez says a top priority is to prove that federal funding for cyber security and data protection is necessary, not just for Winooski, but school districts across the state. “If the universal services were to fund this at a federal level, that would boost all school districts to come up to a standard,” he said.
The pilot program will pay for cybersecurity services for three years to find out if universal funding is beneficial. “To have the support, whether it’s financial, whether it’s through advice, whether it’s through guidance and establishing baselines and requirements — I think that’s all really valuable to those organizations and to the community as a whole,” Gonzalez said.