Classrooms are digital now. So are the threats.
K-12 districts, colleges, and universities are among the most targeted sectors in cybersecurity, and among the least resourced to defend themselves. STS provides the security operations, compliance programs, and workforce training that educational institutions need to protect students, meet regulatory obligations, and keep learning uninterrupted.
The reality facing education.
Education sits at the intersection of high-value data (student PII, research IP, financial records), limited IT budgets, open network cultures, and rapidly expanding digital footprints. Ransomware groups specifically target schools because they know the pressure to restore operations is immense. The average cost of a data breach in education exceeds $3.65 million, and the reputational damage to institutions trusted with children's data is incalculable.
What keeps education leaders up at night.
Ransomware Epidemic
Educational institutions are the #1 ransomware target by sector. Attackers know schools will pay because downtime means students can't learn. Districts that can't restore from backups face impossible choices between paying criminals and losing months of operational data.
Student Data Protection (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act requires institutions to protect student education records. A breach doesn't just expose data, it triggers federal compliance investigations, loss of funding eligibility, and erosion of parent trust.
Underfunded IT Security
Most districts have 1-2 IT staff responsible for everything from fixing printers to defending against nation-state-level attack tools. There is no security team. There is no SOC. There is an IT director doing their best with tools from 2015.
Expanding Attack Surface
1:1 device programs, cloud-first learning platforms, remote access for teachers, IoT on campus, the attack surface in education has exploded in 5 years. Most security architectures haven't kept pace.
Phishing & Social Engineering
Faculty and staff click phishing links at higher rates than almost any other sector. Without consistent security awareness training, every inbox is an open door for credential theft, BEC scams, and malware delivery.
We don't treat education clients like small enterprises. We understand the unique operational culture, academic freedom, open networks, BYOD environments, limited budgets, and governance structures that move slowly. Our solutions are designed for this reality, not in spite of it.
Solutions built for education.
Managed Security for Education
A virtual SOC built for school district budgets. 24/7 threat monitoring, managed endpoint detection, and incident response, without the cost of hiring a full security team. We become the security department you need but can't afford to build.
FERPA Compliance Programs
From gap assessment to policy development to ongoing compliance monitoring, we build FERPA programs that protect student data and survive audit scrutiny. Every control maps to specific FERPA requirements with documented evidence.
Security Awareness for Educators
Training designed for teachers, administrators, and staff, not IT professionals. Simulated phishing campaigns, role-specific education, and a culture-building approach that makes security a shared responsibility, not an IT burden.
Incident Response Planning
When, not if, an incident occurs, your response plan determines whether it's a disruption or a disaster. We develop, document, and test IR plans tailored to educational operations, including communication templates for parents and media.
Network Architecture & Segmentation
Separate student networks from administrative systems, isolate IoT devices, and implement zero-trust principles without breaking the open, collaborative culture that makes education work.
AI Governance for EdTech
AI tools are flooding into classrooms, from tutoring bots to plagiarism detectors to administrative automation. We help institutions develop AI acceptable use policies and evaluate EdTech vendors for data handling practices before student data becomes training data.
Framework-mapped. Audit-ready.
“A Texas school district with 15,000 students went from zero dedicated security to a fully managed security operations program, detecting and containing a ransomware attempt within 8 minutes of initial access, before any data was encrypted.”