Securing the Learning Environment Against Anonymous Proxies

By Jim Culbert

Ask most administrators what the biggest threat to the online learning environment is today, and you'll most likely be deafened by the resounding reply of "anonymous proxies!" Gone are the days when bandwidth, safety and budget were an administrator's primary concerns and could be easily maintained with an Internet filter. Today, students can conveniently bypass all safety measures put in place with a few strokes on the keyboard that allow them to connect to "bad" sites.

With their limited time and resources, most IT staff I know cannot compete with and keep track of the number of proxies that pop up every day. This leads to other problems: schools end up failing in their compliance with CIPA standards, students are exposed to harmful material and bandwidth is drastically diminished. Take, for example, our district, Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville, FL. Although we were utilizing an Internet filter, students were still accessing MySpace.com and other sites about 300,000 times per week. Not only were these targeted sites disrupting study time, but the traffic was hogging a significant amount of bandwidth that could have been used for more appropriate educational applications. Students were bypassing DCPS's then-filter by accessing anonymous proxies--and this was as easy for them as learning their ABCs....

Read Complete Article | Back to top

NY District Installs IP Camera System

CDW Government and Axis Communications recently announced the companies have installed network cameras at the Middletown City Schools in Orange County, NY. Approximately 265 Axis network cameras were installed as a campus security threat deterrent across the entire district, including seven educational buildings and two administrative buildings.....

Read more | Back to top

Georgia District Gets Emergency Notification System

Ware County School System has contracted with Honeywell to deploy the company's Instant Alert for Schools (IAS). IAS is a Web-based system that provides notifications to parents of students in the event of emergencies. It's also used to distribute school news. As part of the deal, Honeywell will also deploy its Digital Video Manager (DVM) surveillance system....

Read more | Back to top

Wyoming District Rolls Out Anonymous Reporting

Sweetwater County School District No. 2 in Wyoming is launching a new service to help deal with students' personal problems, such as threats and bullying. The service, "Talk About It," from AnComm, lets students report their problems anonymously to school personnel via the Internet. Sweetwater becomes the first district in Wyoming to implement Talk About It....

Read more | Back to top

Texas High School to Implement Honeywell's Instant Alert

B. F. Terry High School in Rosenberg, TX has selected Minneapolis, MN-based Honeywell's Instant Alert for Schools to improve parent communication and emergency responsiveness....

Read more | Back to top

Sendio Launches E-Mail Security Program for Education

E-mail security solutions provider Sendio this week launched a new program for higher ed and public and private K-12 schools. The company is making its I.C.E. Box e-mail security appliance available for half price to qualifying institutions....

Read more | Back to top

MDI To Provide Technology For Learn Safe Program

Security technology provider MDI recently announced that it received an initial blanket purchase order totaling $25.3 million from Stratis Authority for its Learn Safe school safety and security program. The order was based on an initial Scope of Work submitted by MDI and approved by Stratis Authority to provide security products and professional services to multiple school districts located in the Southeast....

Read more | Back to top

SchoolSpan Reopens Safe Schools Grant

SchoolSpan will once again offer its Safe School Grant to K-12 schools this spring. A Grant award includes five years of free service of the company's anonymous reporting module. Schools will receive a minimum of five years of licensed service from SchoolSpan for the Anonymous Alert module, valued at $500 per year, according to company. The Web-based program allows students or community members, who wish to remain nameless, to warn school officials of threats needing immediate attention....

Read more | Back to top