Democrats Push Education Secretary to Address K-12 Cyber Threats Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Jim Langevin, D-R.I., urged Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in an April 1 letter to address the growing cybersecurity threat facing K-12 schools by issuing guidance that will give K-12 schools more confidence in making investments in increased cybersecurity measures. News and insight on today’s mission-critical IT challenges, from the MeriTV studio. Watch The legislators cited a recent report from the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center that found a surge in cyberattacks against K-12 schools, and saying that changes in education modalities due to the pandemic are largely to blame. Specifically, there were 408 cyberattacks against K-12 schools in 2020, compared to 348 in 2019. The FBI also issued an advisory last year on cyber threats facing K-12 schools noting, “Cyber actors likely view schools as targets of opportunity, and these types of attacks are expected to continue through the 2020/2021 academic year.”