November 2005 — Features
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Is Your Network Safe?
First, as a result of teachers sharing personal passwords with students, on two occasions students tapped into confidential information which they posted on external Web sites. While the breaches were fixed, significant staff time was necessary to find the source and work with authorities to mitigate damage. District leaders publicized these incidents, which helped spread the lesson about the risks of sharing passwords, and an acceptable-use policy was instituted that requires all teachers using the system to agree to the policy as a condition of employment in the district.Second, the presence of viruses downed the district’s system for as long as two weeks, necessitating round-the-clock staff work to clean up the situation. New protection plans and products were evaluated, and the one selected has proved capable of being able to stop viruses at their introduction. However, this is a reality that must be constantly monitored.
A third attack came from hackers, two of whom were successful in entering the system. One challenged the district to find him, and he was ultimately sentenced to jail and forced to pay Poway for the cost of catching him. The second took advantage of a hole in some software programs to get on a server and sell space on that server to his friends. It was the experience with the two hackers that led the district to conduct a security audit.
Poway created a Security Committee that includes supervisors of the Tech Support and Data Systems, as well as a staffer from the user-training program. The district recognized that it didn’t have written policies or set procedures for keeping up with IT issues, and that it needed to install new tools to monitor servers as its technology got more sophisticated with increased wireless access points. The security audit has served not only to help the district identify points of weakness, but also to report to board members and other stakeholders on the need for investing in increasing levels of IT security.
A key lesson gained from Poway’s experiences is the need to take IT security seriously and work to build widespread recognition of the importance of acceptable-use policies that are constantly being updated and shared broadly throughout the district. As students and staff become more enthusiastic technology users, the security issues expand. The district has assigned a chief security officer to oversee the implementing of adequate security measures, as well as to ensure that end users are able to access the information and resources they need to provide rich teaching and learning activities for students.
Cheryl S. Williams is VP of education for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Keith R. Krueger is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking.
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