Protect E-Rate Funds with Abnormal Security

About the E-Rate Cybersecurity Pilot Program

The FCC's E-Rate program makes telecommunications more affordable for schools and libraries, boosting Wi-Fi access to improve digital learning for K-12 students. However, this increased connectivity also raises cybersecurity risks, prompting the FCC to launch the Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program with up to $200 million in funding over three years.

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Cyberattacks on K-12 School Systems Are on the Rise

1,981

Schools across the United States impacted by ransomware in 2023.

55%

of K-12 data breaches result from security issues at school district vendors.

$350M

Losses prevented from Abnormal’s identification of compromised vendors in 2023.

Prior to turning on Abnormal, attackers would create one Gmail address after another to impersonate familiar people—our superintendent, principals, and teachers. We couldn't do much about those attacks before. We have a Google Workspace instance that we use for students, so we couldn't block Gmail addresses. With Abnormal, it catches those impersonation emails automatically, so we don’t have to spend time responding to those threats manually.

— Shane Snedecor, Information Security Manager, Virginia Beach City Public Schools

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Sophisticated Threats Targeting the Education Sector

Cyberattacks on K-12 districts are rising as criminals target public schools for their perceived weaker defenses and steady government funding. New technologies, such as generative AI, enable these attackers to execute advanced threats more rapidly, while socially-engineered attacks exploit human vulnerabilities, bypassing traditional security measures and disrupting vital educational services.

To combat increasingly sophisticated attacks, schools must adopt a proactive and multifaceted cybersecurity approach, leveraging advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and mitigate potential risks in real time.

The Abnormal Solution

Abnormal Security’s AI-driven approach to email security is the ideal solution for protecting E-Rate funded organizations. By leveraging machine learning, Abnormal can detect and block sophisticated phishing attempts and other email-based threats that traditional security solutions often miss.

This proactive defense not only safeguards the personal information of students and staff but also helps maintain compliance with federal regulations—ensuring that schools and libraries remain eligible for E-Rate funding.

Abnormal Enhances Security for E-Rate Funded Schools

As a cloud-native, API-based email security platform, Abnormal offers specialized protection for E-Rate funded schools by leveraging advanced behavioral data science to thwart new and sophisticated attacks that traditional security tools miss. Unlike legacy systems that rely on static rules, Abnormal uses a dynamic approach to accurately detect and automatically neutralize email threats.

Integrating seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, Abnormal quickly implements its security measures, analyzing thousands of signals from identity, behavior, and content to distinguish between legitimate and malicious messages. By identifying anomalies even within ongoing conversations, Abnormal ensures that E-Rate funded schools can safeguard their faculty, staff, and students from advanced threats that conventional systems fail to detect.