Are Your Schools Cyber-Safe?

You’ve got the latest filter that blocks proxies and IM and FaceBook. So, is your district cyber-safe? A new study released today from CDW Government (CDW-G) found that when asked to grade their own physical and cyber security, one-third of school districts say that they “need improvement.”  Those same districts also reported increases in physical and cyber security breaches in the last 12 months.

CDW-G’s second annual School Safety Index finds that generally districts nationally are more successful in their approach to physical safety, but IT safety still needs work.

Key findings include:

• More than half of districts are using network access control (NAC) to protect data and ensure that only authorized users and approved applications access their networks.  However, budget constraints, lack of staff resources and the need for more IT tools cancelled out districts’ efforts to improve cyber safety
• Nearly half of districts are utilizing mass notification systems, and 70 percent are using security cameras; 29 percent of districts report that security cameras have had a positive impact on district safety
• Districts should consider the instant access that IP security cameras can give their local police.  While more schools are using security cameras, only a small number of districts give their local police force the ability to access digital footage in real-time during an emergency

The study also finds that, measured on a scale from zero to 100, the national cyber safety average this year was 38.6, down 25 percent since 2007.  How does your district rank? Check out the complete study.

ePals Introduces Applications for a Safe Online Environment

The affordable classmate PC is all the one-to-one rage, and now ePals, Inc. announces it will make it safer with a new educational application for the device that includes the ePals' Global Learning Community, SchoolMail and SchoolBlog. This application ensures educators and administrators using the classmate PC have a safe environment for building and exchanging knowledge. They can use protected email, blog, translation tools, and evidence-based curricula. 

Details: This program is part of the Intel World Ahead Program that aims to connect the next billion people to uncompromised technology around the world.

Bottom line: ePals safely connects more than 350,000 teachers from 200 countries and territories around the world, so this seems a good vendor for the popular classmate PC.

The Eyes Have It

Over the years, I’ve noticed that schools with video cameras have less graffiti and vandalism than those that don’t. Sony’s SNCRZ25N video surveillance camera can keep an eye on things whether there’s someone watching or not. The small camera can cover the territory with an 18X zoom lens, the ability to pan 170 degrees each way and tilt up and down. It even works in low light. Because the SNCRZ25N sends its video to a server over the school’s network, you don’t have to add expensive video cables to the school.

Check it out at Sony’s security Web site.

Filtering by Proxy

Net-savvy students can whiz their way around proxies to bypass school web filters, so these filters have to keep getting smarter. Distribution giant CDW-G has gotten into the game by offering 8e6 Technologies’ Internet filter as part of an overall cyber security solution. The new combined offering includes three security packages: 8e6 Professional Edition, 8e6 Standard Edition, or the 8e6 ProxyBlocker that works with other Internet filters to detect and block Web-based proxies and instant messaging applications. See CDW-G for more details.