Regional Formation and Development Studies

The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with principals of general education schools. The research results revealed that educational institutions are increasingly facing cyberthreats, such as phishing emails, malicious links, or misleading messages about alleged dangers. These threats can disrupt the educational process, pose risks to data security, and damage the institution’s reputation. The findings show that school leaders’ activities in ensuring cybersecurity focus on organising preventative and interventional measures, mobilising the community, developing internal procedures and response algorithms, and cooperating with institutions. It was observed that principals often lack experience and feel psychological stress and legal responsibility for potential consequences. Different perspectives on the principal’s role emerged, from that of a key leader to one in which there is a shared community responsibility model. However, there is agreement that effective cybersecurity assurance is based on the principal acting as an educator, threat manager, prevention organiser and community mobiliser, actively involving the entire school community in building a culture of security.