Legislative audit finds gaps in school and higher-education cybersecurity; urges minimum standards and future testing

The Office of the Legislative Auditor General told the School Security Task Force on Oct. 15 that Utah K–12 school districts and some higher-education institutions have cybersecurity gaps that raise the risk of data breaches and service disruptions. "We assessed the cybersecurity at local education agencies and degree-granting institutions," audit manager Jesse Martinson told the task force, summarizing the audit's scope and three key findings.

The auditors said two Utah school districts were publicly reported as breached in the past year; one incident affected roughly 450,450 student records and 30,000 employee records and produced a $150,000 insurance payment and sizable recovery costs. "In public education, attackers successfully breached, two Utah school districts in the last year,"…