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USAAC

Cybersecurity & Digital Ethics Accreditation (CDA)

📌 Purpose: Leading frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 provide useful benchmarks, while ISTE and UNESCO guidance inform digital-ethics and citizenship expectations.

💡 Tip: Be honest and thorough. Attach supporting documents for a stronger application!

📍 Section 1: General Readiness for Accreditation

  1. 1.Does your school have a written cybersecurity & digital-ethics strategy aligned with its educational goals?
  2. 2.How often does leadership review and update that strategy and its supporting policies?
  3. 3.What recognized frameworks (e.g., NIST CSF, ISO 27001) guide your cybersecurity governance?
  4. 4.Do you perform regular risk assessments and vulnerability scans on all networks and devices?
  5. 5.Is there a designated cybersecurity officer or committee with clear authority and resources?
  6. 6.Are encryption, secure back-ups, and access controls applied to all sensitive student- and staff-data?
  7. 7.Does the school maintain a tested incident-response & disaster-recovery plan for cyber events?
  8. 8.Have you established partnerships with external cybersecurity experts or agencies for support?
  9. 9.Is the school fully compliant with student-data-privacy laws such as FERPA (USA) or GDPR (EU)?
  10. 10.How are cybersecurity roles, responsibilities, and expectations communicated to staff, students, and vendors?

📍 Section 2: Leadership & School Culture

  1. 11.Do senior leaders publicly model responsible, ethical technology use and champion cyber-safety?
  2. 12.Is an adequate budget and staffing plan allocated to sustain cybersecurity operations and PD?
  3. 13.How does the school ensure equity and inclusion when implementing security measures (e.g., language, accessibility)?
  4. 14.Is digital ethics embedded in the school’s vision, code of conduct, and technology policies?
  5. 15.Does everyone (teachers, support staff, students) receive mandatory cybersecurity & digital-ethics training each year?
  6. 16.Are students encouraged to join cybersecurity clubs, hackathons, or competitions to deepen skills?
  7. 17.Do leaders collaborate with parents and community groups on online-safety awareness campaigns?
  8. 18.Are cybersecurity metrics or transparency reports shared with stakeholders at least annually?
  9. 19.Are there programs that recognize or reward exemplary cyber-hygiene among staff and students?
  10. 20.Does leadership regularly benchmark its posture against national or international standards and adjust accordingly?

📍 Section 3: Student & Faculty Cyber Awareness and Practice

  1. 21.Are cybersecurity and digital-ethics concepts embedded across subjects and grade levels?
  2. 22.What hands-on opportunities (e.g., ethical-hacking labs, digital-forensics tasks) do students have?
  3. 23.Do students receive explicit instruction on safe online behaviour (passwords, phishing, social-engineering)?
  4. 24.Is an AI-powered threat-monitoring system used to detect suspicious activity on school networks?
  5. 25.Do teachers use real-time security analytics dashboards to inform classroom practice or safeguards?
  6. 26.Are assistive safety tools (e.g., text-to-speech alerts, multilingual warnings) available for diverse learners?
  7. 27.Does the school run incident-response drills that involve both students and staff?
  8. 28.Are students invited to help draft or revise acceptable-use and digital-ethics policies?
  9. 29.What confidential channels exist for reporting cyberbullying, breaches, or unsafe behaviour?
  10. 30.How does the school evaluate and iterate its cybersecurity & digital-ethics curriculum based on feedback and emerging threats?