CRANSTON – Rhode Island’s public schools will become the first in the U.S. to implement a new federally funded cybersecurity tool to protect data and systems by the end of the school year.
State elected and education officials joined White House National Cyber Director Harry Coker Jr. on Monday at Cranston High School East to formally announce that Rhode Island’s public school districts signed a pledge to implement the Protective Domain Name Service, which will be offered free to all K-12 public schools and libraries across the country. Coker said PDNS helps prevent ransomware and other cyber attacks by preventing computer systems from connecting to harmful websites and other dangerous areas of the internet.
PDNS is expected to bring additional cybersecurity to approximately 136,000 public school students across the Ocean State, the cyber director’s office says. Gov. Daniel J. McKee said in a statement that school districts across the country average five cyber incidents per week, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. The state is making a push for every local education agency to “commit to some simple but effective strategies that help protect our data from those threats,” McKee said.
This announcement comes a few months after the Providence Public School District
experienced a significant network breach, with school officials saying an investigation verified that student and staff personal information was accessed by the outside group that hacked into PPSD’s network. The number of individuals potentially impacted by the cyber breach of the state’s largest public school system includes 12,000 current and former PPSD employees, school officials have said.
According to the pledge, the R.I. Department of Education will partner with the cyber director to adopt PDNS cybersecurity supports across all schools in Rhode Island by June 30, 2025. RIDE and the White House also pledge to take steps to secure personal and sensitive information, ensuring that all student and staff data is protected from unauthorized access and potential cyber threats.
Both sides also pledge to promote cybersecurity awareness and training, as well as leverage federal and state support to strengthen and improve protection, per the pledge.
“In today’s digital age, protecting our schools, students, and educators from cyber threats is a top priority,” R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said in a statement. “By investing in robust cybersecurity measures and fostering collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners, we are building a safer and more resilient digital infrastructure that ensures learning can continue without disruption.”
Former U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin – who now chairs Rhode Island College’s Institute for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies – said in a statement the partnership between the state and the White House underscores the importance of working together “to create a secure and reliable digital environment where students can learn without interruption.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
