Rhode Island schools to use malicious domain protection service
Rhode Island officials and U.S. National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Jr. on Monday announced that all 64 of the state’s school districts have agreed to implement the Protective Domain Name Service, a free cybersecurity service that helps thwart ransomware and other cyber attacks by preventing computer systems from connecting to dangerous areas of the internet. It will be the first state in the country to use the new tool, according to the announcement.
Rhode Island public schools, which serve approximately 136,000 students, will use the free Protective Domain Name Service, or PDNS, with support from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is operated by the Upstate New York nonprofit Center for Internet Security.
The service maintains a list of malicious domains, preventing suspicious connections from being established and decreasing the odds of cyberattacks. The tool does not generate alerts to IT administrators, require a password or have menu options to configure, according to the announcement.
“According to the U.S. Department of Education, every week, school districts average five cyber incidents,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said in a press release. “Rhode Island is making a statewide push for every local education agency to commit to some simple but effective strategies that help protect our data from those threats.”
Providence, Rhode Island’s largest school district last October suffered a ransomware attack that exposed sexual misconduct allegations involving students and teachers, children’s special education records and vaccine histories.
“For too long, our schools have been going toe-to-toe with motivated ransomware gangs, sophisticated cyber criminals and well-resourced nation-state actors putting the data and safety of our students and schools at risk,” Coker said at a press briefing. “The Biden-Harris Administration has recognized that schools across the nation need help, which is why we are making available free resources to every school and library across the nation.”
