Clever

In 2025, 52% of U.S. school districts experienced a cybersecurity incident, up from 36% in 2024 and 31% in 2023.

54% of U.S. school districts rate student identity theft or long-term harm as their number one concern.

58% of U.S. school districts have adopted new technologies to meet insurance requirements.

Only 5% of school systems implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for students.

76% of school administrators lack confidence in current protections for student digital identities.

24% of school administrators express high confidence in their ability to protect student digital identities.

Only 11% of U.S. school districts have formal processes to vet AI use in edtech tools.

Nearly 40% of school district administrators are unsure if the new technologies they've adopted to meet insurance requirements actually make their students safer.

Students have the lowest Multi-Factor Authentication adoption at 13% across grade levels.

Only 21% of U.S. school districts feel most confident addressing student identity threats.

Four out of five U.S. school districts (80%) believe AI is increasing their cybersecurity risk.

Vendor-related cybersecurity incidents among schools districts rose from 4% in 2023 to 32% in 2025.

60% of school systems are moving to restrict student phones, which impacts authentication approaches.

29% of school systems report increases in student-to-student security incidents.

70% of school administrators identify AI as a growing security consideration, but only 9% currently have formal vetting procedures for AI in edtech products.