Protecting the Security of Education Records

Overview

Academic and administrative computing systems used to be more isolated - either intentionally for security reasons or as a result of limited interconnectivity with other computers - but today it seems that nearly any information that an administrator, teacher, student or parent might need can be obtained through a network connection. Course materials are presented and students submit their assignments via the Internet, school lunch accounts and student grades can be accessed by parents' online and administrative paperwork and other information is shared among a variety of systems and people in K-12 and higher education. The Internet is a great way to communicate, but it introduces security threats that did not threaten walled-off systems of the last century.