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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