Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 07 August 2023

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against, and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Biden-⁠Harris Administration Launches New Efforts to Strengthen America’s K-12 Schools’ Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) launched a new cybersecurity resource webpage for K-12 education. This webpage supports the agency’s “Target Rich, Cyber Poor” efforts which focus on those sectors considered to be especially lucrative and vulnerable targets. These sectors store sensitive and valuable information but lack the resources to build comprehensive cybersecurity programs, making them frequent targets of ransomware attacks. CISA worked with its subject matter experts and K-12 working group to populate this new webpage with information and resources tailored for K-12 organizations. On this page, CISA highlights great resources for schools at every level of cyber maturity, including their Partnering to Safeguard K-12 Organizations from Cybersecurity Threats report. This report identifies cybersecurity risks elementary and secondary schools face along with recommendations, cybersecurity guidelines, and a toolkit designed to help schools address these risks. On their new page, you will also find links to several ransomware resources for K-12 which are housed on Stop Ransomware | CISA. To access CISA’s cyber resources for the K-12 community, they direct the education community, stakeholders, and the public to their newly developed Cybersecurity for K-12 page: Cybersecurity for K-12 Education | CISA.

Analyst Comment:

Many Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) operate schools and have invested resources into physical security efforts. Cybersecurity should also be an investment, because a cyber attack can shut down school operations. In January of this year, AP reported that a 30,000-student school district in Iowa was closed for two days due to a cyber attack. Cyber attacks can also affect physical security, as security cameras and doors are increasingly outfitted with network capabilities.

CISA’s new cybersecurity resource webpage  for K-12 education is a good starting point for improving FBO schools’ cyber security.

Grants Available to Faith-Based Organizations.

Houses of worship, nonprofits across NH to get over $2 million to improve security

MARYLAND DELEGATION ANNOUNCES OVER $15 MILLION TO STRENGTHEN SECURITY AT HOUSES OF WORSHIP

PETERS ANNOUNCES $7.5 MILLION IN SECURITY GRANTS TO FAITH-BASED AND NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS ACROSS MICHIGAN

Analyst Comment:

FBOs in New Hampshire, Maryland, and Michigan should consider applying for one of these grants. FBOs in other states should check to see if their state or local government can provide assistance.

Also, FEMA security grants are available to nonprofit organizations. Grant opportunities can be found at Nonprofit Security Grant Program | FEMA.gov.