School districts across the country were already increasingly vulnerable to cyberthreats prior to COVID-19. On top of that, many dealt with budget and staffing challenges, making it harder to improve their cybersecurity defenses.

Then, the pandemic hit and schools went remote. That shift, which made students and educators more reliant on digital tools, expanded the attack surface of schools and aggravated threats such as phishing and ransomware attacks. In late June, the FBI even warned K–12 schools to expect a surge of cyberattacks because of the remote learning boom, Politico reports.