Protect your school and district from cyberthreats with less day-to-day management

For cybercriminals, finding vulnerabilities in network infrastructure is second nature.

With widespread internet access, mobile devices, online learning platforms and smart classroom tools, hackers have many ways to gain access to critical systems. This has helped make the education sector the fastest-growing target of cyberattacks worldwide, with the industry recently seeing a 75% year-over-year increase in the average number of weekly attacks per organization.¹ In 2024, 1.8 million records were affected by ransomware attacks on the education industry.² The average ransom demand on an educational institution topped $847,000.³

$550K

The average daily cost of downtime for a ransomware attack on a U.S. educational institution.⁴

To protect their networks, critical data, students, faculty and staff, many schools are working to stay ahead of new risks by investing in cybersecurity solutions. Even so, IT leaders are finding it difficult to manage the volume and complexity of security alerts. Part of the challenge is funding, with 86% of K-12 organizations pointing to a lack of sufficient funding as a top cybersecurity concern.⁵ 

61% of K-12 organizations say the increasing sophistication of threats is a top cybersecurity concern.⁶ 

At Spectrum Business, a Charter Communications brand, we can help you face the current threat landscape confidently by providing much more than just traditional cybersecurity measures for your school or district. By combining your leadership, our expertise and the strength of our network, we will deliver deeply coordinated protection with advanced solutions built to reduce administrative effort. Our approach to security extends from our network core all the way to your classroom. 

136%

The increase in mobile attacks on education institutions from June 2023 to April 2024.⁸

The power of an integrated security experience

Between July 2023 and December 2024, 82% of K-12 organizations experienced cyber incidents.⁷ When exploring new ways to stay ahead of cyberthreats, it’s important to keep in mind that it takes more than just the right solutions to deliver complete protection. To connect with confidence, you want security measures that are integrated with your internet and network connectivity. 

A network built for protection

Security in today’s K-12 environment starts with having a solid foundation. Spectrum Business is a trusted provider with the right expertise to help you guard against cyberthreats and stay ahead of emerging technology trends that can increase your risk. Rely on us to provide 24/7/365 monitoring that detects threats and automatically responds to network intrusions and cyberattacks. 

Expertise that ensures performance

To increase efficiency, IT leaders need to know which solutions and processes are most effective. Spectrum Business assists by partnering with major security leaders to review, verify and apply measures proven to keep your internet service and network secure. 

Solutions customized for the demands of your school or district

Every school has different needs. That’s why we start our process by evaluating your current infrastructure and applications to design the network topology most appropriate for you. Built-in redundancy delivers layers of protection that help keep your traffic safe and prevent attacks from impacting your school. 

Multilevel security — from packet level to network traffic

In many cases, schools need more than just traditional local area network (LAN)-side protection for peace of mind. Cybercriminals can elect to use volumetric distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks combined with application-layer attacks to overwhelm specific targets and cause complete infrastructure collapse. We can help you avoid these costly disruptions with our DDoS Protection service, powered by Radware and designed to detect and mitigate such attacks and help keep your network up and running. 

3,574

The number of weekly cyberattacks experienced by the average educational organization.⁹

The flexibility to fine-tune your threat protection

As security demands change, you need the ability to adjust your strategies quickly and seamlessly. At Spectrum Business, we have your security needs covered by providing a range of additional solutions, including perimeter-based protection, firewalls with built-in VPN access, next-generation firewalls with advanced security services and support for integration with client authentication sources. Along with other safeguards such as unified threat management (UTM), these solutions are designed to be flexible and provide multiple security functions from one centralized interface. And with all these services fully managed by our IT experts, you don’t have to worry about whether you have the latest updates installed, as our network engineers and support teams handle them for you. Meanwhile, our managed security services portal allows you to monitor your network activity, unlocking insights via logs and event tracking.

A unified security approach integrated with your internet and network connectivity can help you eliminate vulnerabilities and expedite issue resolution. With today’s expanded attack surface, it’s essential to have a partner that can remove the complexities of protecting your school’s integrity, students, faculty, staff and data. That’s why we provide solutions capable of addressing your unique security threats while giving you confidence in your infrastructure — no matter how you connect. 

$3.5M

The average cost of a data breach in the education industry as of 2024.¹⁰

A unified security approach integrated with your internet and network connectivity can help you eliminate vulnerabilities and expedite issue resolution 

Sophisticated solutions to optimize your IT security

The increase in cloud services, mobile connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the classroom is a major reason why protecting schools and districts has become so challenging. While the intelligence built into our network core can help by capturing and removing many large-scale cyberattacks, you can still be open to vulnerabilities based on your specific infrastructure. We can identify the strategies and solutions that would be most effective in protecting your school’s attack surface and help you understand the role they play in keeping your network safe. 

DDoS Protection

Protect the availability of your network assets by employing a scalable, subscription-based DDoS solution that uses proprietary machine learning and advanced analytics to identify anomalies in traffic flows and respond to and mitigate attacks away from your network. 

Secure Access with Cisco Duo

Help protect your school and district from unauthorized access to sensitive systems, regulatory violations and data loss that can disrupt teaching and learning. Capabilities that include multi-factor authentication (MFA) and identity management allow IT to set access policies by user and device, regardless of location. 

Cloud Security with Cisco+ Secure Connect

Allow remote users to access cloud software as a service (SaaS) applications and the internet securely and directly without reliance on a traditional centralized or premises-based security solution. This cloud-based security service includes secure web gateways, cloud access security broker, identity management, zero trust network access and more. 

Enterprise Network Edge

Improve the network experience with an enterprise-grade managed solution that brings together connectivity, equipment and network management to support both hybrid networks and workforces. Powered by Fortinet, the solution simplifies IT operations by providing networking with security features and optional integrated WiFi and switching in a multi-cloud-ready platform. 

Managed Network Edge

Simplify the deployment and management of your network with this modular, all-in-one solution. Delivered over the Cisco Meraki platform, Managed Network Edge offers security features, routing, a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), WiFi and switching. Available smart cameras, powered by advanced AI and machine learning, provide actionable insights into your physical and digital spaces. Intelligent sensors automatically detect and alert staff to environmental events. Achieve flexibility and scalability with connectivity, equipment and network management from a single partner. 

Ethernet Services

Meet growing data needs by connecting locations with a fast, reliable WAN solution backed by a 100% uptime service-level agreement (SLA) guarantee and built on a dedicated fiber infrastructure. Bandwidth up to 100 Gbps is available. 

Cloud Connect

Extend your network with fast, secure and dependable private connections to cloud service providers with a service backed by a 100% uptime SLA guarantee. 

Managed WiFi

Meet user demands for reliable connections to the internet with ubiquitous coverage across your school.

Consult with experts and explore professional integration services to determine the optimal configuration for your needs with solutions backed by 100% U.S.-based support, available 24/7/365.

Count on us to help you keep school data safe 

Protecting your school from cybersecurity threats has never been more important. Changes in technology are creating new network vulnerabilities and exploits, while opportunistic hackers are intensifying their efforts to take advantage of challenging situations. To stay ahead of risks and move your school forward confidently, you need to consider all aspects of your security strategy.

Receive the level of protection you need with a single digital security experience that starts at our network core and extends all the way to the solutions you use to keep your school and district safe. With our network design expertise, we can help you set up the infrastructure to connect securely and provide the fine-tuned security solutions you need to protect your network traffic and data. 

Learn more

1. “The State of Cyber Security 2025,” Check Point Research, 2025.
2. Rebecca Moody, “Ransomware Roundup: 2024 End-of-Year Report,” Comparitech, January 9, 2025,” Comparitech, January 9, 2025.
3. Ibid.
4. Paul Bischoff, “On Average, US Schools & Colleges Lose $500K per Day to Downtime From Ransomware Attacks,” Comparitech, August 27, 2024.
5. “2025 CIS MS-ISAC K-12 Cybersecurity Report: Where Education Meets Community Resilience,” Center for Internet Security, March 2025.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. “Zscaler ThreatLabz 2024 Mobile, IoT, and OT Threat Report,” Zscaler, 2024.
9. “The State of Cyber Security 2025.”
10. “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024,” Ponemon Institute and IBM Security, July 2024.