For those who follow cybersecurity news the idea that our schools and libraries are especially at risk is nothing new: facing limited budgets, a myriad of new and old technologies and students who may deliberately or accidentally bypass controls, education has historically lagged behind other industries when it comes to security.  The response to a new FCC program though, as reported by K-12 Dive, suggests that many institutions are eager to change that.

The program, whose application window closed on November 1, received over 2,700 applications totaling 3.7 billion dollars, far exceeding the program’s 200 million dollar budget. The FCC noted the “overwhelming” response to the pilot program, stating that it will be an excellent opportunity to test cybersecurity solutions in different environments.

Organizations selected to participate in the program will receive funds that they may use for firewalls, endpoint protection, authentication along with detection and response.  While the schools and libraries in the program will receive between 15 thousand and 1.5 million dollars, they will be required to contribute their own funds to the program as well.

While this $200 million investment is important, there is still a ways to go when it comes to securing our educational institutions.  The impressive demand for the FCC program, however, does suggest that unlike ten or twenty years ago the leaders of these institutions are now fully aware that cybersecurity is a pressing concern.