Des Moines, IA- Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn is co-sponsoring federal legislation to address cyberattacks on schools.
“These are no longer attackers in basements or individuals who intend to do harm for a one time profit,” Nunn says. “These are now nation states, places like North Korea, the Islamic Republican Guard Corps out of Iran, Russian activists who are intentionally looking to steal information that can harm Americans for decades and generations.”
Radio Iowa reports that Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, is joining a California Democrat in sponsoring a bill to create a national registry of ransomware attacks on schools.
“Think of it as a 911 operations center,” Nunn says. “We can provide voluntary Rolodex of information coming in that can be categorized, so that the same type of attacks that occur in a place like Des Moines don’t get replicated in other communities.”
A cyberattack against Des Moines Public Schools in January cancelled classes for two days, and exposed some parent’s personal data. Nunn’s bill also calls for the creation of a federal technology improvement program, which would spend about $20 million over two years helping k-12 schools acquire new tools to protect data.
“We don’t want every school district, particularly some of our smaller school districts, to have to spend an inordinate amount of money trying to become what the Department of Homeland Security’s true job is — provide this level of integrity for a network,” Nunn says.
A similar bill in the Senate is co-sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats.
