For K-12 districts
The first hour after an incident matters most — for students, families, and the school year.
HackFirstAid for Education walks K-12 districts through it in plain language, with no jargon, no procurement headaches, and a clear hand-off to your trustees. Free triage, 12 playbooks, and a US + Canada regulatory grid.
Built for K-12 public, charter, and private districts · Atlantic-Canadian roots, North-American practice · Higher ed, OT/SCADA, and non-security cyberbullying out of scope by design
Triage in under three minutes
Tell us what just happened. We'll point to the right playbook and the right regulators.
The free triage is always free — no signup, no email gate. Use it during an incident or run it as a tabletop with your team.
Open the triage
Answer 2–5 plain-language questions about what you're seeing in the district.
Get a printable plan
Matching playbook, first-hour actions, regulator hand-offs for your state or province.
Hand it to your team
Email to your superintendent, print for the board, or work straight from the screen.
K-12 cyber incidents by the numbers
The scale your district is actually planning against.
100+
K-12 ransomware incidents publicly reported in 2025
Source: K12 SIX / Comparitech K-12 ransomware tracker (calendar year 2025)
11 days
Median downtime after a K-12 ransomware incident
Source: GAO Report on Cyberattacks on K-12 Schools
~45%
Of attacked US districts serve fewer than 5,000 students
Source: K12 SIX annual State of K-12 Cybersecurity report
Featured playbooks
Scenarios written for the way K-12 districts actually run.
SIS, LMS, lunch accounts, transportation, IEPs, state testing, board meetings — vocabulary that matches a district, not a corporate org chart.
Ransomware mid-school-day
Encryption hits during classroom delivery — transportation routing, lunch accounts, IEP accommodations, or state testing.
Open playbook
Student Information System compromise
PowerSchool, Aspen, Infinite Campus, Skyward, or Synergy account takeover, grade tampering, or credential-stuffing.
Open playbook
Teacher email / BEC
Compromised teacher mailbox — gradebook variant (transcripts) and the payroll-redirect variant (paycheck reroute).
Open playbook
Family communication after a breach
Templates by severity tier — SIS down one day, vendor PII breach, ransomware affecting operations, sextortion involving a student.
Open playbook
By vendor
Reporting paths for the platforms your district actually runs.
PowerSchool, Aspen, Infinite Campus, Skyward, Synergy, Canvas, Schoology, Google Workspace for Education, Microsoft 365 Education — vendor-specific escalation paired with the matching incident scenarios.
Free download
Put the first hour on paper before you need it.
A one-page checklist your superintendent, IT director, and board chair can keep at their desks. Plain language. No vendor pitch. Built specifically for K-12 districts.
Why HackFirstAid for Education
Built by Travis Barlow — 25+ years of incident response across the public sector, 580+ engagements, founder of AtlSecCon.
Atlantic-Canada based, working with US and Canadian districts. No vendor pitch, no fear marketing — just calm guidance for the worst morning of your year.
Procurement-friendly by design
Annual fiscal-year-aligned invoicing under most US K-12 single-quote thresholds. W-9 / BN ready. Sole-source justification template. NASPO ValuePoint and state co-op paths on request.
Procurement paperwork →The HackFirstAid family
One cyber-readiness stack. Twelve audiences.
You run security for a K-12 district. HackFirstAid also covers staff and families at home, the medical and legal providers they use, your municipality, the pension plan your teachers retire on, the boards, executives, and IT teams governing the rest — and the Household portal your paid plan includes for every staff member's family.
Individuals & Families
For you and your family at home.
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Small & Mid-Sized Business
For the business with no security team.
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Municipalities
For the towns everyone depends on.
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You are here · K-12 Districts
For the districts protecting kids and data.
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Small Medical Practices
For the practices holding patient data.
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Boards & Trustees
For the boards that own the oversight.
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Executive Leadership
For the executives who sign for it.
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IT Teams & MSPs
For the IT people who get the call.
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Law Firms
For the firms holding clients' secrets and money.
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Pension Administrators
For the administrators behind every pension payment.
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Family Offices
For the office that runs the family's wealth.
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Households
For everyone under your roof — free with every paid plan.
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