Powered by AI, Cyber Threats Can Even Reach Second Graders

https://www.govtech.com/security/powered-by-ai-cyber-threats-can-even-reach-second-graders

Publish Date: 2026-06-24 13:31:00

PORTLAND, Ore. — As if the job of cybersecurity officers was not made difficult enough in today’s world of threats ginned up by AI, try introducing risk-avoidance tools like multifactor authentication to second graders using Chromebooks.

“It’s not going to happen,” Hailie Roark, information security manager at Clackamas Education Service District (CESD) in Clackamas County, Ore., said during a cybersecurity panel Tuesday at the annual meeting of Link Oregon at Portland State University.

CESD offers specialized instruction to children ages 3-21 with complex needs, helping the eldest find employment; and offers teacher, student and technology support to area districts. Link Oregon is a nonprofit member organization providing middle-mile connectivity and other resources to K-12 districts, universities, cities and other public-sector organizations.

K-12 school districts are certainly not immune to cyber attacks, but because of their many technology users, cybersecurity officials have had to come up with more creative approaches to controlling risk.

“Things like MFA, one of my favorite rants is, ‘how do you provide and enforce MFA for second graders?’” Roark said, using the shorthand for multifactor authentication, the go-to security protocol organizations use to control the security of the many endpoint devices in circulation, including laptops.

School districts of all sizes now issue Chromebooks to students from elementary to high school. Each of these devices is a possible entry point for a cybercriminal. A challenge for school districts — which is unique to an organization with so many young people in possession of tech — is the job of securing these devices.

“What do you do? Do you give them a little fob? Do they bring it back and forth from home every day? Do they take care of it? Does it come back?” Roark said, offering scenarios which clearly stretched anyone’s idea of…

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