Securing+Schools+From+Social+Media+Threat


 * Summary of Network Box White Paper: Securing Schools From Social Media Threats **

School districts face increasing internet security risks from a multitude of new technologies used by students and teachers in and out of the school. “The proliferation of social networks such as facebook, Bebo and MySpace, instant messenger (IM) platforms, and file-sharing and peer-to-peer applications and software mean that the IT teams in schools have to cope with an even greater number of threats than many corporate networks.” Teachers have to protect their students from being exposed to inappropriate or illegal material, either by preventing them from attempting to access such sites, or by blocking sites that contain inappropriate material.

“The most common of the direct threats to school networks, comes from downloading malware – most commonly done by clicking on links shared between pupils within, for example, instant messages (on MSN, for example, or within social networks like facebook), emails and Twitter (although Twitter users tend to be older).” This risk is increased by the use of file sharing and peer-to-peer technologies. Using such technologies can expose schools to malware that could “take over” one or more computers, or steal information on the school or it staff and students.

Another problem to schools is the unauthorized downloading of music and video files that unknowingly contains malware. Furthermore, downloading a movie from the internet can take a lot of time and bandwidth, which slows down an internet connection. When multiple students download music and video files at the same time, it can dramatically affect the performance of the network.

Students are often tempted to explore areas on the net that they should not go. Teachers have a responsibility to prevent students from visiting adult, illegal or otherwise inappropriate websites. It is largely up to the district’s security system to do this. A teacher by themselves cannot oversee every website that a student visits, especially with large class sizes. Web filtering technology can ensure that blacklisted websites, or sites containing potentially damaging content are blocked from use.

Another security issue is that of protecting children from inadvertently giving out their personal information online. “Most responsibly-run online communities, virtual worlds and games for children will use moderators (such as eModeration http://www.emoderation.com ) to prevent children from giving out personally identifiable information about themselves, such as address, phone number or school details (even when children code this information to get round filters) that could lead to grooming.” Teachers should monitor websites that students access to ensure that they have safety measures such as moderation in place and might consider blocking those that don’t.

This white page listed the following 10 golden rules for schools: 1. Create clear security guidelines. Creating clear rules for pupils and teachers alike will help everyone know exactly what is expected of them, and what the consequences are if these rules are broken. 2. Educate students on the importance of security, using these guidelines. Make sure they understand why the rules are in place. 3. Stay informed. Teachers and IT managers in schools should ensure that they are up to speed with the latest technologies and platforms that are being used in and out of the classroom by their students. 4. Keep your security systems up to date. 5. Agree on what platforms are and aren’t acceptable. 6. Set strict web filters and password systems, and monitor web and IM use. 7. Monitor access to the internet, and to platforms and applications. 8. Set the same stringent security controls to information leaving the network as to information coming in to the network. 9. Block all third party plug-ins and devices, except those approved by the school. 10. Do not allow unsupervised time on school computers where possible.

For more information on this white page go to the following link: [].