School districts know that the battle against cybersecurity is a growing problem, vexing even the largest schools in the state.
To that end, a state agency is offering a next generation software to the Iowaβs school districts for up to 16 months at no cost to the schools.
The Iowa Department of Management Division of Information Technology (DOM-DoIT), formerly the Office of the Chief Information Officer, is offering Endpoint Detection and Response. This is a security tool that detects and prevents a wide range of known and unknown cyber attacks on computers, servers and other devices. The service also includes state-of-the-art, around-the-clock security incident monitoring and response for schools.
The agency is providing licenses for devices β devices being servers, laptops, and desktops β for each public K-12 district in Iowa based on their sizes:
- Districts with student populations up to 1,000 receive four licenses.
- Districts with student populations from 1,001 to 3,500 receive 15 licenses.
- Districts with student populations of 3,501 and higher receive 77 licenses.
- Districts may purchase additional licenses at an annual cost of $98.88 per device.
A webinar will be held at 10 a.m. on Oct. 31 giving details about the cybersecurity protection. Administrators and IT professionals are asked to register for the webinar.
In addition, districts wanting to take advantage of this must:
- Respond to this Program Participation Survey to elect or decline Program participation.
- Upon election to participate in the Program a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be sent from DOM-DoIT
- Participating districts and AEAs will have to sign a MOU with DOM-DoIT in order to participate.
Questions may be emailed to government.services@iowa.gov.