Cassidy’s K-12 Cybersecurity Act becomes law

President Joe Biden on Oct. 8 signed into law the bipartisan K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021, which is cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

“Protecting our children’s personal information needs to be a top priority. Recent cyberattacks show that need,” Sen. Cassidy said. “This new law provides the resources we need to protect schools and students.”

Sen. Cassidy in June signed on as a cosponsor to S. 1917, which U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) sponsored on May 27 to enhance cybersecurity assistance to America’s K-12 educational institutions.

The new law requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to study the cybersecurity risks facing elementary and secondary schools and develop recommendations that include cybersecurity guidelines designed to assist schools in facing those risks. The use of such recommendations shall be voluntary, according to the congressional record summary.

The CISA study must evaluate the challenges that schools face in securing information systems owned, leased or relied upon by schools, as well as sensitive student and employee records, the summary says, noting that CISA also is required to provide the study’s findings on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website along with its cybersecurity guidelines and toolkit.

In related efforts, Sen. Cassidy earlier this month introduced Senate Resolution 410, which is sponsored by Sen. Peters and would designate October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The legislation is under consideration in the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Additionally, Sen. Cassidy in May offered two bipartisan bills to protect small businesses against cyberthreats: the Small Business Cyber Training Act of 2021, S. 1687, which would require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a program for certifying at least 5 percent or 10 percent of the total number of employees of a small business development center to provide cybersecurity planning assistance to small businesses; and the SBA Cyber Awareness Act, S. 1691, which addresses the cybersecurity of the SBA.