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FCC program funds ~$40/student for cybersecurity expenses (apply by November 1)

Upgrade your Chromebook security with brand new federal funding from the FCC Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program

Last updated October 16, 2024

First time here? Instinctive offers affordable cybersecurity for schools. Check out the features, schedule a demo, or try it now for free

tl;dr

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What kind of cybersecurity do you actually need for school Chromebooks?

Chromebooks are popular in part because they are so secure out of the box, with built in security hardware, frequent OS updates, and a limited attack surface. But there's more that schools should be doing to protect their students, staff, and data.

When you apply to the FCC pilot, you'll need to explain your district's cybersecurity goals. For Chromebook schools, consider the following (note: the terms in bold are specifically mentioned in the FCC's language on eligible services):

  1. Patching & Security Updates - Keeping Chromebooks up to date is one of the cybersecurity foundations in order to keep up with the latest bug fixes and security patches. Instinctive can help you monitor which devices need to update, get them compliant, and ensure autoupdates reach devices promptly.
  2. Insider and Privilege Misuse & Privileged Access Management - Staying secure means limiting the number of users with administrative powers, and regularly auditing their usage and access. Instinctive adds to the power of Google's roles & access controls by letting you set expirations for admin privileges, grant one-time access to make a specific change, and audit all changes made by an admin.
  3. Compliance Assessment - With over 1,000 Chromebook settings across device settings, user settings, managed guest sessions, and kiosks, and potentially different settings over hundreds or thousands of OUs, you could easily end up with millions of settings combinations. Instinctive automatically audits your settings, finding gaps and helps you fix them in a single click.
  4. Advanced Attack Surface Management and Asset Management Solutions - Great asset management is a prerequisite to top-notch security, because you need to know your risks before you can manage them. Instinctive helps you manage and update assets quickly in bulk, and can import/export from spreadsheets or advanced expressions.
  5. Web Content Controls - Do all of those websites really need access to your users' cameras, location, and microphone? Instinctive helps you get web content under control so you can limit your exposure and keep students safe.
  6. Endpoint detection & response - When you do have a security incident, you'll need to remediate it as quickly as possible. Instinctive is the fastest way to find and block your school-owned Chromebooks.

Which schools are eligible and how much funding is available?

Schools that are eligible for E-Rate funding are also eligible for the cybersecurity pilot program. You do not need to have participated in E-Rate, as this is a distinct program. The window to apply is only open until November 1, 2024. See here for full eligibility criteria

Funding is based on your "Category 1" discount rate, which is determined using your percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, as well as urban vs. rural status. See here for details on calculating your discount percentage

Your discount percentage determines how much your district or school pays out of pocket vs. how much is paid by FCC funding. For example, if you are buying a product that costs $100 with a discount percentage of 90%, you will only need to pay $10 out of pocket!

Funding caps

Funding is capped based on the number of students in your district. The cap refers to the total cost of services, e.g. the $100 that you might pay only 10% of. You will also see this referred to as the "pre-discount" price.

Nationwide, the pilot program will fund up to $200M expenses total across a diverse set of schools and libraries.

All tiers of Instinctive are fully eligible to purchase with pilot funds

The Instinctive security suite is a one-of-a-kind product specifically designed for schools with Chromebooks and qualifies under the following categories: Endpoint Protection, Identity Protection and Authentication, and Monitoring, Detection, and Response.

The full Instinctive security suite costs between $4 and $12 per student per year depending on features, with volume discounts available. You can try Instinctive for free today, with limited features but no time restriction.

Please contact us or schedule a demo for more information.

 

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