IBM announced the first eight recipients of the 2022 IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants, totaling $5 million in in-kind services.
Each grant will sponsor IBM Service Corps volunteers to address the selected school districts’ cybersecurity resiliency.
The FBI, DHS CISA, and MS-ISCA anticipate an increase in cyberattacks against schools during the 2022-2023 academic year.
The 2022 IBM Education Security Preparedness Grant recipients are:
City of Dublin Educational Training Board – Ireland
Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence – UAE
Cupertino Union School District – Sunnyvale, CA
Rossville Cons. School District – Rossville, IN
East China School District – East China, MI
Newburgh Enlarged City School District – Newburgh, NY
Goffstown School District – Goffstown, NH
Prince William County Public Schools – Manassas, VA
IBM’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report revealed that the cost of a data breach averages $3.86 million for education institutions. While the report found that 49 percent of data breaches the industry experienced were caused by a malicious attack, nearly 30 percent occurred due to human error, emphasizing the need for proper cybersecurity training and education in schools.
The IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants program, now in its second year, received more than 120 applications from schools across the U.S. and will award six school districts with grants. This year the program is also expanding overseas with grant recipients in Ireland and UAE being announced today, and with recipients in Costa Rica and Brazil to be announced at a later date.
