The study, which surveyed more than 100 individuals that manage IT security at kindergarten throught 12 (K-12) school districts in the United States, examines security practices and top security concerns in schools and school districts.
With 63% of schools experiencing malware outbreaks or unauthorized user access at least twice a year, the results indicate that IT security is a resource-heavy, time-consuming effort that schools struggle to manage efficiently, Panda said.
According to the survey, 64% of schools have experienced significant downtime. At the same time, schools also struggle to upgrade IT security systems, with 72% identifying budget constraints as the primary barrier, and 38% identifying a lack of staff.
In addition, 29% indicate that the IT staff has other priorities that take precedent over IT security system upgrades.
The survey found that 21% of schools IT staff spend time every day removing viruses and malware from computers and networks, and 38% said they do so a few times a week.
“While the internet is an invaluable tool for education, it can cause serious interruptions to day-to-day operations if schools fail to properly address security concerns”, said Rick Carlson, president of Panda Security US.