Building a Strategy for Endpoint Security and Student Privacy in 2021

If you’re in charge of device endpoint security and student privacy for a school or district, you need resources to make your job easier. 

Those in educational IT departments know that the remote learning movement isn’t as simple as installing Zoom and making sure that every teacher has access to tech support. What you’re really doing, behind the scenes, is upgrading the digital infrastructure of your school district in near real-time.

In support of your hard work, the Absolute team recommends 3 steps to take sooner rather than later, to prevent potentially catastrophic problems before they bubble up.

Strengthen your device visibility strategy

With the CARES and American Rescue Plan acts in place, K-12 schools are receiving a wave of financial investment to upgrade their technology infrastructure. This rapid and fast-moving innovation runs the risk of creating accountability gaps with regards to device management — and even worse, leaves doors open for hackers to target teachers and students who are ill-equipped to defend themselves.

Educational IT departments, known for moving mountains on shoestring budgets, need to protect assets before problems have a chance to surface. Absolute has built its platform with this need in mind.

With our firmware-embedded protection for devices, data, and security controls, security program managers gain access to granular information, aggregated to reports for expedient and decisive action. This level of control makes it possible to prevent risks, remediate breaches, and troubleshoot to a fine-tuned level of precision.

Define your audit protocols

In a recent study that our team conducted among K-12 IT professionals, 41% shared that tracking lost or missing devices was a major challenge — and there’s an average of 30 devices missing per school. 

Educators and administrators need an unbreakable defense platform and full visibility to their entire fleet of stimulus funded endpoints. With this capability, IT leaders can effectively establish the following protocols for:

• Reclaiming all devices at the end of the school year — and preparing them for the next one
• Preparing reports for easily accessible and accurate K-12 audits such as end-of-year or CARES Act audits
• Ensuring school and district level compliance with data privacy regulations such as FERPA and HIPAA
• Diagnosing and troubleshooting potential problems related to security breaches, device tampering, and student/teacher safety

To support the development of these processes, Absolute Security offers the following:

• Centralized, comprehensive asset management for Windows, Chrome & Mac operating systems
• Centralized view of device & web usage, not just single application usage
• Geolocation tracking from a centrally managed console
• Device freeze capabilities for multiple devices at one time
• Notifications for when missing devices come online
• Extended theft recovery team and device recovery guarantee
• Customizable hardware reports that align with audit requirements

Be strategic about financing

The financing decisions that you make today need to empower your team with long-term peace of mind.

During these challenging times, the Absolute team is committed to giving schools and districts what they need to manage and secure endpoints — while also providing purchase flexibility that supports their current funding situation. 

If you have one-time funds or are using capital budgets for the coming school year, you can benefit from the Absolute Resilience for Education Life of Device license that protects your fleet of endpoints for 6 years. This is a limited-time, heavily discounted offer available through September 30, 2021 that eliminates Absolute renewal funding concerns.

Next Steps

Thanks to your leadership, America’s kids continue to have promising futures. But schools are still at the beginning of this recovery journey — and your technical expertise is essential for ensuring that school districts can cross this chasm.  

If you feel that Absolute and our special offer could offer value, we’d love to hear from you. Learn more about Absolute for Education and book a demo to get started today.