US Representative for Iowa’s Third Congressional District Zach Nunn has introduced legislation to try and protect school districts all across the nation.

The “Enhancing Cybersecurity Act” would improve K-12 schools and their ability to protect students from cyber attacks by expanding cyber prevention information sharing, tracking of cyber attacks across the country and increasing resources for schools to combat these crimes. Nunn says that this legislation is in direct response to the cyber attack on Des Moines Public School District.

“It is a challenge because our public schools are ripe targets and to date we have not been able to put together a good, what I will call, base on where these attackers are going. In the case of Des Moines Public Schools, the type of attack they launched on Des Moines Public Schools, shut down the school for days and put students out of the classroom. But equally dangerous. That tactic was used repeatedly in school districts around the country.”

Nunn explains that this bipartisan legislation will create a cybersecurity technology improvement program for K-12 schools along with giving them the resources like a cybersecurity information exchange and creating a cybersecurity incident registry.