Securing the Network in a K-12 Public School Environment

In many ways, a K-12 public education data network will be designed and constructed in the same manner as any other business data network. While all business networks will have some degree of security built into them, a K-12 school environment presents special needs and requirements. It goes beyond the obvious items such as physical security, routers, sub-netting, firewalls, and anti-virus. These will be addressed as well, but we will be looking at several other very important issues, which include privacy (confidentiality), data integrity, and content filtering. There are laws in place regarding privacy and the confidentiality of student information. There are repeated concerns with students hacking into school data systems and modifying files. It is also a hot topic regarding having Internet content filtering within schools. We will be doing some comparisons between the United States and Canada in regards to these items. As well, funding always comes up in any conversation pertaining to the public school system, so this will be looked at too. Many decisions that are made are done within the confines of the available funding structure.