By: Paxton S.B. No. 1696
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2021; March 26, 2021, read
first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 13, 2021,
reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0, one
present not voting; April 13, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to establishing a system for the sharing of information
regarding cyber attacks or other cybersecurity incidents occurring
in schools in this state.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.175, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (g), (h), and (i) to
read as follows:
(e) The district's cybersecurity coordinator shall report
to the agency or, if applicable, the entity that administers the
system established under Subsection (g) any cyber attack or other
cybersecurity incident against the district cyberinfrastructure
that constitutes a breach of system security as soon as practicable
after the discovery of the attack or incident.
(g) The agency, in coordination with the Department of
Information Resources, shall establish and maintain a system to
coordinate the anonymous sharing of information concerning cyber
attacks or other cybersecurity incidents between public and private
schools and the state. The system must:
(1) include each report made under Subsection (e);
(2) provide for reports made under Subsection (e) to
be shared between schools in as close to real time as possible; and
(3) preserve a reporting school's anonymity by
preventing the disclosure through the system of the name of the
school at which an attack or incident occurred.
(h) In establishing the system under Subsection (g), the
agency may:
(1) contract with a qualified third party to
administer the system; and
(2) allow open-enrollment charter schools and private
schools in this state to report and receive information through the
system.
(i) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
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