Technology Reseller - v08

11 | Basingstoke 01256 707070 Burnley 01282 776776 store.exertis.co.uk First KCSiE and now GDPR Hot on the heels of educational establishments having to comply with the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) guidelineswhich came into effect last September and monitored by Ofsted, focus now turns to GDPR regulations. Safety wasn’t a new issue for schools as demands have increased significantly since the millennium and the use of the internet and widespread access to social media have meant that children have become increasingly vulnerable to inappropriate and illegal online content. However, the new directive had far more references to technology and was more explicit stating: “it is essential children are safeguarded from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material” and schools should do “all that they reasonably can to limit children’s exposure”. It also required an “effective approach to online safety” and “a clear policy on the use of mobile technology”. The guidance called for effective online safeguarding mechanisms with a mandatory requirement for all schools to have an appropriate filtering and monitoring system in place whilst creating the right balance between safeguarding and “overblocking” that would impose unreasonable restrictions on the use of technology as part of the education process. On line safety was categorised into three broad areas: • CONTENT: being exposed to illegal, inappropriateor harmful material. • CONTACT: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users. • CONDUCT: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm. Help for schools To help schools address this, the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) published some definitions and compiled a list of filtering and monitoring providers that could demonstrate how their technology met the national defined standards. UKSIC recommended that schools should ensure that access to illegal content was blocked and specifically that the filtering providers were Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) members. In addition, they should incorporate “the police assessed list of unlawful terrorist content, produced on behalf of the Home Office”. KCSiE monitoring requires both the physical supervision of children whilst using IT systems or devices through to the use of technology. For example, filtering services provided by some Internet Service Providers that produce logfile, information against individuals, or IT vendors and resellers that provide technology based monitoring systems that can alert schools to inappropriate behaviours. Exertis produced a guide for educational establishments featuring the SonicWall and FastVue solution that provides integrated web ltering, application control, SSL inspection and anti-malware along with extensive reporting and monitoring. Exceeding the baseline requirements of KCSiE, SonicWall content ltering solutions (CFS) offer the most affordable way to protect students from harmful and inappropriate web content. Running on all SonicWall network security appliances, CFS features a continuously updated, comprehensive database of over 4m web sites, domains and IP addresses and includes both IWF CAIC and the Home Of ce terrorism lists, making it an ideal solution for schools and colleges looking for a cost effective, integrated solution. The guide can be downloaded at http:// bit.ly/SchoolsWF GDPR in education Turning to GDPR which comes into effect from 25th May next year, Exertis has also produced a guide which outlines the main points of the legislation and how businesses can work towards compliancy. This can be downloaded at http:// bit.ly/ExertisGDPR. But how does it apply to education?