Education Industry needs a refresher course in data security
8th October 2008
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Schools are responsible for looking after their students. It is
a teacher's job to zip up coats, wipe away tears, and teach
children the things they need to know. There are procedures in
place to make sure that students are looked after while they are
under the school's care, but what about a student's personal data?
Are British Schools keeping their students' data safe?
According to a recent survey by Databarracks, 92% of education
institutions say they back up their data, however, analysing this
further, the survey shows that while 60% take the data offsite, 55%
of them have this function performed by a member of staff who takes
the data home. Though rooted in good intentions, this is not a
comforting solution in light of the amount of data loss which has
occurred over the years as a result of staff negligence.
Databarracks' survey also revealed that 20% of these
institutions are aware of data retention regulations, but are
uncertain that they are compliant. Further, 26% of them were
unaware of the regulations.
Different categories of data warrant different retention periods
and ultimately, disposal measures, which is a lot to keep straight,
especially considering that education professionals have enough on
their plates without asking them to be IT experts.
Becta, the Government's lead agency for information and
communications technology (ICT), is trying to make data
protection easier to achieve, making available guidelines and
policies for managing data and responding to security incidents and
threats.
According to industry retention regulations, everything from
financial records, to old classroom materials, to exam results and
staff records must all be retained, each with individual retention
periods ranging from 6 months for disciplinary warnings to 85 years
for salary cards.
Jeremy Gray, Sales Manager of Databarracks, explains: "As a
managed service provider we're always striving to understand
different challenges industries face with their backup and storage
requirements so we can work as an extension of their IT department
and provide a complete backup and recovery service. The survey
shows that although the education sector has a lot to comply with,
their understanding of the backup methodology and its capabilities
needs to be improved. Until guidelines are followed, education
institutions are susceptible to disasters and it's our job to
tailor our service to change this reality."