A return to US net neutrality rules?

For nearly 15 years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States has gone back and forth on open Internet rules – promulgating and then repealing, with some court battles thrown in for good measure. Last week was the deadline for Internet stakeholders to submit comments to the FCC about their recently proposed net neutrality rules for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which would introduce considerable protections for consumers and codify the responsibility held by ISPs.

For anyone who has worked to help to build a better Internet, as Cloudflare has for the past 13 years, the reemergence of net neutrality is déjà vu all over again. Cloudflare has long supported the open Internet principles that are behind net neutrality, and we still do today. That’s why we filed comments with the FCC expressing our support for these principles, and concurring with many of the technical definitions and proposals that largely would reinstitute the net neutrality rules that were previously in place.

But let’s back up and talk about net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that ISPs should not discriminate against the traffic that flows through them. Specifically, when these rules were adopted by the FCC in 2015, there Continue reading

Don’t Let the Cyber Grinch Ruin your Winter Break: Project Cybersafe Schools protects small school districts in the US

As the last school bell rings before winter break, one thing school districts should keep in mind is that during the winter break, schools can become particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks as the reduced staff presence and extended downtime create an environment conducive to security lapses. Criminal actors make their move when organizations are most vulnerable: on weekends and holiday breaks. With fewer personnel on-site, routine monitoring and response to potential threats may be delayed, providing cybercriminals with a window of opportunity. Schools store sensitive student and staff data, including personally identifiable information, financial records, and confidential academic information, and therefore consequences of a successful cyberattack can be severe. It is imperative that educational institutions implement robust cybersecurity measures to safeguard their digital infrastructure.

If you are a small public school district in the United States, Project Cybersafe Schools is here to help. Don’t let the Cyber Grinch ruin your winter break.

The impact of Project Cybersafe Schools thus far

In August of this year, as part of the White House Back to School Safely: K-12 Cybersecurity Summit, Cloudflare announced Project Cybersafe Schools to help support eligible K-12 public school districts with a package of Zero Trust cybersecurity solutions — Continue reading