The Classroom is Now @ Home: Building Data Security Into the Online Schooling Experience
The world of education has shifted profoundly in recent years, and moved even more dramatically in the spring of 2020, when the coronavirus crisis was raging out of control. With telecommuting fast becoming the norm, many parents are now exploring the possibility of bringing their kids home as well.
Interest in all forms of home schooling has skyrocketed, and the coming shift could upend the way children are educated for generations to come. From former cyber charter schools to parents teaming up to create informal learning pods, these unique online schooling arrangements are quickly becoming commonplace.
That is good news for kids and their parents, but without the right precautions it could be bad news for data security. When changes in society take place, the cyber criminals take notice, and hackers are already targeting home schooling moms and dads, busy students, teachers and others in the educational system. If you want to protect your children, your data and your privacy, you need to take a proactive approach.
Use Child Safe Settings on Web Browsers, Software and Mobile Devices
The internet is a powerful tool for online learning, but it also contains things young children should not see. If you plan to use your home computer, tablet and smartphones for distance learning, take the time to configure their child-safe options.
It is important to enable these settings even if you will be using equipment supplied by your child's school. While some IT departments have experience locking down their systems, others are not so savvy.
If your kids are older and tech savvy, you may want to check periodically to make sure those safe surfing settings are still intact. Young people are great at circumventing internet restrictions, so vigilance should be the watchword.
Keep Your Software Up to Date
As the schoolroom comes home and online learning becomes the norm, the value of software updates has never been greater. From the operating systems running in the background to the software packages providing the daily lessons to the connectivity packages that link your home Wi-Fi network to a far-off school, every one of these points of entry could give hackers access to your data.
Make sure your software and operating systems are set for automatic updates, and check regularly to make sure those updates are taking place. If you have any doubts about the security of your home Wi-Fi network and connected devices, reach out to the IT team at your child's cyber school.
Ask Your ISP About End to End Security
Many internet service providers (ISPs) now offer end to end security for their customers and their connected devices. If your ISP offers such a service, ask how you can get it and start using it. Even if this kind of sweeping security costs a bit more, it may be worth the extra money to protect your data and avoid problems down the line. If you want your child to learn effectively, the last thing you want is a sudden outage or a frightening ransomware demand.
Use a Password Manager
The typical online student may be juggling five or six or more passwords, with logon credentials for various classes, different lesson plans and a number of online portals. That is a lot to keep track of, especially when security experts warn against using the same user/password combination on multiple sites.
That is what makes a password manager such a necessity for home schooling parents and their children. Once the password manager is installed, your child will only have to remember one master password and the software will do the rest.
Back Up Your Data
No matter how many steps you take to protect your data and how tightly you lock down your network, data loss could still occur. It could be hackers breaking through your firewall, but it could also be the untimely death of a hard drive or the crash of a tablet or laptop.
Backing up your data is an essential part of effective cyber schooling, and you should not rely solely on the school to provide those backups. Saving critical files, lesson plans and works in progress to USB drives, external hard drives and other external devices will give you, and your child, peace of mind.
Be a Smart Sharer
No matter where they are learning or what they are doing, young people love to share their experiences and opinions. Social media sites like TikTok, Twitter and Instagram are an integral part of the average student's life, but those software packages can present a security risk if not used properly.
Teaching your home schooled child to be smart about sharing will serve them well, not only now but in the future as well. Discussing the real world and long term consequences of too much sharing is an important lesson, one every student needs to learn. That funny video may be exciting now, but it could prove embarrassing later on.
Learning at home is quickly becoming the norm for parents and their children. As telecommuting takes off and the educational landscape shifts, parents, teachers and students need to assess their security needs. The tips listed above can help you build a better cyber classroom, one where children learn effectively while their private data stays protected.