ARThe Department for Education (DfE), in collaboration with SWGfL, launched the Cyber Secure: Cyber Security Check up for Schools tool in December 2023 to assist schools in evaluating and enhancing their cybersecurity policies and practices. Over six months later, the tool has been widely adopted with over 1,150 schools now actively using its platform. To better understand Cyber Secure’s impact and usability, a user survey was conducted in July 2024.
Survey Overview
The Cyber Secure User Survey, conducted across July 2024, aimed to gather feedback from educational professionals on the tool's effectiveness and areas for improvement. With 71 responses from various school settings, the survey provided valuable insights into how schools are engaging with the tool and what changes might be needed.
Key Findings:
- Demographics: Most respondents were from primary schools, with ICT Managers and Head/Deputy Heads being the primary users.
- Main Uses: Schools primarily used the tool to assess current cybersecurity status, ensuring compliance, and developing improvement strategies across their communities.
- Cybersecurity Concerns: Top concerns included data breaches, cyber-attacks (ransomware and phishing), human error, and resource constraints.
- User Satisfaction: Over 85% of users were satisfied with the tool’s content, guidance, ease of use, resources and reports.
- Impact on Knowledge: 53% of users reported improved knowledge of cybersecurity standards after using the tool and 83% of users who initially rated their knowledge as ‘fair’ reported an increase to ‘good’ after using the tool.
- Barriers: Time constraints and technical complexity were the main barriers for some users.
- Suggestions for Improvement: Suggestions to simplify the tool, reduce evidence requirements, and provide additional support and training resources.
Updated Changes to Cyber Secure Check-Up for Schools
The Cyber Secure tool is undergoing updates to align with the latest cybersecurity standards, while maintaining its original hierarchy. We would advise all schools to revisit the tool at their earliest convenience once live to have awareness of these new changes.
The most notable change will be the renaming of ‘Staff Education’ to ‘Staff and Student Education,’ expanding the focus to include student learning in all relevant areas.
Key Updates:
Significant revisions will be made to the following sections:
- Staff and Student Training
- Incident Reporting
- Managing Acceptable Use
- System Security
- Backup Planning
- Asset Management
- Minor Changes: Other sections will receive minor adjustments.
Integration of New DfE Cyber Security Standards
The tool will include references to the seven updated cybersecurity standards, integrating them across various aspects. The language will be adapted to reflect the more accessible terminology used in the new standards. Links to these standards will be provided in each relevant section of the tool.
Cyber Secure will not only meets the requirements of the new standards but also cover additional areas addressed by Cyber Essentials. Schools using Cyber Secure can be confident they are complying with the latest standards and more.
DfE Cyber Security Standards for Schools and Colleges
Recommendations
Schools are encouraged to review the updated sections during their next self-assessment to ensure ongoing compliance with the new criteria. Despite these updates, the overall structure and goals of the Cyber Secure tool remain unchanged.
