Parties Ask FCC to Include Cybersecurity Offerings in E-rate Support
Some parties urged the FCC make cybersecurity an E-rate eligible service in its USF school and library telecom discount program for funding year 2018. "School districts around the country are increasingly becoming the targets of cyberattacks against government infrastructure," commented…
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Aruba in docket 13-184, asking the FCC to expand the eligible service list. A public notice sought comment on a proposed list and two issues in particular: whether further clarification is needed to assist applicants seeking support for on-premise network equipment, and "the category of service that should apply to inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building " (see 1706210069). The K-12 National Advisory Council on Cybersecurity said millions of students "are connecting to unprotected broadband services -- jeopardizing their online safety and the integrity and reliability of public schools local and wide area networks." It asked the FCC to make eligible certain secure web gateway network capabilities "to make Category One broadband service functional." Iboss had similar comments. Kellogg & Sovereign, which manages E-rate applications, supported the FCC's proposal "regarding the eligibility of on-premises Network Equipment with both Category One and Category Two functionalities to clarify that on-premises Network Equipment that interfaces with a Category Two-eligible local area network (LAN) is eligible for Category One support if it is necessary to make a Category One broadband service functional." ApplianSys proposals included implementing "a balanced approach of smaller increments of bandwidth upgrades with caching, or caching in lieu of bandwidth upgrades," and adjusting "actual bandwidth targets for schools by using caching to achieve the same classroom Internet performance with a smaller Internet connection." AdTec asked the FCC to allow applicants to seek funding under either category for inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building.