THE Journal — Security/Privacy
The 2 Mistakes Schools Make in Deploying Wireless Networks
When the School District of Philadelphia announced last fall that it was deploying wireless Internet access at every school in the district--some 268 campuses--it was hyped as one of the world's largest enterprise wireless local area networks. Aside from the scale of the project (which involves the equivalent of 14,000 access points), the news barely raised an eyebrow among K-12 administrators. After all, announcements of new school deployments of WiFi have practically become a monthly occurrence on THEJournal.com.
(2/12/2008)
Unwanted Attention More Common in Chat Rooms and IM than Social Networking Sites
A study just published in the journal Pediatrics reports that young people are more likely to be exposed to unwanted solicitations in instant messaging (IM) and chat rooms than through social networking sites.
(2/11/2008)
Missouri School District Goes High Tech with Emergency Planning
The Hannibal School District in Missouri is the latest to take advantage of an all-hazards preparedness program offered free to public and private schools in the state by the Missouri Office of Homeland Security.
(2/11/2008)
SecureVue Rolls Out in Appliance Form
eIQnetworks has released its flagship security and compliance product, SecureVue, in appliance versions, one a central server and the other a regional server. SecureVue 3000 Central Server has 1.8 terabyte storage capacity and supports up to 15,000 events per second. The SecureVue 2000 Regional Server-- deployed in conjunction with the SecureVue 3000 Central Server for distributed environments--offers 1 TB storage capacity and supports up to 6,000 events per second.
(2/8/2008)
Alabama School District Implements Emergency Alert as Part of VoIP Rollout
Alabama's Elmore County Public School District has completed its installation of an Internet protocol (IP) communications platform, which integrates district-wide emergency alert capabilities.
(2/8/2008)
Network Access Control Adds Self-Service Registration for Users and Devices
Lockdown Networks has upgraded its network access control (NAC) solution, Lockdown Enforcer, implementing new features that simplify initial setup and user and device registration. A NAC ensures that only authorized users and policy-compliant devices can be added to an enterprise networks and provides a centralized mechanism for responding to malware outbreaks and other security events.
(2/7/2008)
Internet Traffic Control Software Enhanced
Lightspeed Systems, a company that makes security programs for the educational market, announced a new release of Total Traffic Control, which controls access to the Internet. The application's core functionality includes content filtering, spam management, bandwidth management, reporting, anti-virus, message journaling, and layered security.
(2/7/2008)
eChalk, Thinkronize Partner for Online Learning
At the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in Austin this week, education technology developer Thrinkronize announced several new initiatives, including an education partnership with eChalk and integration with Lightspeed Systems' Total Traffic Control security system.
(2/7/2008)
St. Bernard Debuts h-Series Security Appliances
St. Bernard Software this week launched a new line of security appliances, the new iPrism h-Series. Designed for enterprises of all sizes, the new models boast a 200 percent performance increase over their predecessors, according to the company.
(2/5/2008)
Internet Security: Getting Involved To Keep Kids Safe
"What has the Internet brought?" That was the opening question posed to the audience Friday at FETC 2008 by speaker William Piotrowski during a session on Internet safety. Piotrowski, along with main presenter, Jonathan King, addressed issues related to the increase of available online technologies and their implications on the safety and security of today's children.
(1/28/2008)
FETC 2008: It's All About Community
Education technology took center stage in Florida last week as teachers, administrators and district technology experts gathered at FETC 2008 in Orlando. Podcasting, digital collaboration and Web 2.0 dominated much of the discussion, but security, new and emerging technologies, and environmental education were also major themes.
(1/28/2008)
FETC Brief: GenevaLogic Updates Classroom Management Software
GenevaLogic unveiled a new version of its Vision classroom management suite at the FETC 2008 conference in Orlando, FL. The 6.7 update includes several enhancements in the areas of installation and configuration.
(1/25/2008)
NetSupport Debuts Desktop Mass Notification System
School security solution provider NetSupport Wednesday debuted a new notification system targeted not at cell phones or e-mail clients, but at desktops. The new system, NetSupport Notify, is now in beta and is being shown off at NetSupport's booth at the FETC conference going on this week in Orlando, FL.
(1/23/2008)
GigaFin, Amer.com Partner for K-12 Network Control
GigaFin Networks and Amer.com are partnering up to provide network services for K-12 institutions. The partnership, announced at the FETC conference in Orlando, FL Jan. 22, aims to "help education administrators curb bandwidth drainage and ensure networks are free of misuse."
(1/22/2008)
Catching Bullying in the Web
Administrators at Beavercreek City Schools have always known the value of student safety, but it wasn't until recently that the Ohio-based district moved its system onto the Web in an automated format that allows it to closely monitor issues like bullying, accidents, and bad behavior.
(1/8/2008)
Oklahoma Consults ADT for School Security
The Oklahoma State School Boards Association announced that it's inked a deal with security firm ADT Security Services to provide training, materials, and purchasing advice for the state's 569 "current and prospective" member school districts. As part of the agreement, ADT will provide risk assessments to all member school districts and will help locate grants and other sources of funding for security solutions for schools.
(1/8/2008)
Planning for the Next Disaster: Pandemic
The experts tell us that a pandemic is inevitable. The only question is when it will happen. Is your organization ready? Can you keep essential IT functions running? What can you do to be prepared?
(1/7/2008)
GWT: Advanced AJAX Security
Billy Hoffman gave a talk on advanced AJAX security at the recent Google Web Toolkit (GWT) conference in San Francisco. Hoffman manages HP Security Labs, which was SPIDynamics until HP acquired it this year, along with Hoffman. He focuses on automated discovery of Web application vulnerabilities and Web crawling technologies.
(1/7/2008)
10,000 Schools Adopt Free Web Security Tool
With mandates to provide controlled online experiences for students, districts around the United States have begun in earnest to adopt Web filtering, content blocking, and proxy blocking solutions for their schools. And with many lacking the budgets for dedicated appliances, huge numbers of these have turned to free online security solutions. The largest of these, OpenDNS, reported to THE Journal this week that more than 10,000 schools have adopted its free Web filtering and proxy blocking solution over the last year.
(1/4/2008)
Trojans 2 Crimeware Exploits Web 2.0 Technologies
Just when you thought life couldn't get any riskier for Web app developers, a new species of malicious code is poised to begin oozing onto our networks. Dubbed "Trojans 2.0" by Web security vendor Finjan, this new Web-borne threat leverages Web 2.0 technology--RSS feeds, social networks, blogs and mashups--to provide crackers with easy and scalable command-and-control schemes.
(1/2/2008)
Data Backup 3 Update Brings Support for Leopard
Prosoft Engineering has brought full support for Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") to its backup and recovery system, Data Backup 3. The software remains unchanged otherwise.
(12/13/2007)
Crime at Schools Flat in Latest DOJ Stats
Serious crime at schools has not increased in the latest statistics to be released by the United States Department of Justice. In fact, in some cases, it's gone down. And, furthermore, school-aged children are still wildly more likely to be the victims of violent crime or theft away from school than at school, according to a recently released report from the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Education called Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007.
(12/12/2007)
Norton AntiVirus 11 Adds Leopard Support, 'Vulnerability Protection'
Symantec this week released a full-version update to its Norton AntiVirus suite for Mac OS X. The latest version incorporates support for Mac OS X ("Leopard") and adds a new feature called "Vulnerability Protection," which is designed to guard against infections from applications connected to the Internet. The company has also updates its Norton Confidential for Mac to support Leopard.
(12/12/2007)
How a Security Play Streamlined a Business Process in a Texas School District
New security initiatives could be viewed as one of those ever-demanding burdens in a school district, sucking up financial resources and adding a layer of complexity to user and IT operations. Or, if you're like Kyle Berger, executive director of technology services for the Alvarado Independent School District, south of Ft. Worth, TX, you could view it as a route to gaining efficiencies in your business processes while reducing expenses.
(12/11/2007)
Security Fears Prompt Call for Suspending Child Database
A planned database containing details of all 11 million children in England should be scrapped because it is insecure and will put children's safety at risk, an alliance of independent schools warned, according to a report in the Guardian (U.K) newspaper.
(12/11/2007)
