Wallingford Public Schools Makes the Grade in Information Security
Wallingford Public Schools is a Connecticut-based K-12 school district comprising two high schools, two middle schools and eight elementary schools. As part of its mission, the administration strived to incorporate the latest technological advances to improve student academic achievement. Wallingford developed a comprehensive three-year plan based on the educational goals of the school system, ensuring that technology would be infused into instructional and administrative programs. Participation in the grant program also required compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a federal law addressing access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers. CIPA requires schools that receive funding support for Internet access or internal connections to have Internet filtering measures in place.
The Test: Protecting Students and the Network
Wallingford’s greatest needs were at the high school level, which had the most computer labs and media centers. “There are a large number of computers in use from dawn to dusk, which presents challenges in securing the learning environment. I knew that was where we’d get the most benefit from a security solution implementation,” continues Backus.
The district’s two high schools, Lyman Hall High School and Mark T. Sheehan High School, are home to about 2,000 students. There are over 250 computers available for use in the schools’ computer labs and libraries. Students use them for a variety of purposes, such as researching topics via the Internet, writing papers for classes, or gathering images for use in school projects. They were also allowed to access personal e-mail accounts such as Yahoo! and Hotmail.
“We already had state-provided web filtering software in place, but there were additional areas of concern,” said Backus. “Blocking inappropriate sites from students is one thing, but there were three other critical issues to address as part of a complete security plan: network visibility, security and performance.”
Backus needed insight into the students’ computer activity. Were they putting the IT infrastructure at risk by visiting malicious web sites that could deliver spy ware or viruses onto Wallingford’s network? Were they visiting unauthorized social networking, adult or other inappropriate web sites? He also needed to know if they were downloading unauthorized applications - such as online multiplayer games or streaming audio and video - that would drain bandwidth and cause poor overall network performance.
A
downfall to Wallingford’s existing filtering software was that it
had no reporting capabilities. Backus had some open source tools in
place to get information, but reports had to be generated building by
building versus one central location, requiring IT staff to physically
travel from school to school. “It took so much time to generate reports
that the effort to do it actually outweighed the benefit we got out
of it.”
Finding the Right Answer
After being introduced to Omni Manager, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering from QED Connect, Backus did an initial evaluation and decided to fully implement the product. Omni Manager combined several important security applications, including Internet and email filtering and reporting, anti-virus, application usage monitoring and policy management, into one hosted service that was deployable to all computers and laptops, regardless of their physical or geographic location. Omni Manager was initially installed on 250 computers in Lyman Hall and Mark T. Sheehan High Schools.
Omni Manager’s hosted nature was a significant benefit to Backus. Instead of having to address each security application individually by purchasing multiple packaged software products, Wallingford was able to cost-effectively deploy an ‘all-in-one’ service. And with reasonable per seat pricing, Omni Manager easily fit within the school’s budget.
“Omni Manager lessens the burden on our IT staff. I spend zero hours per week worrying about managing a server since this application is hosted. No worries about keeping it patched and secure. That time savings alone adds up to several hours per month minimum,” said Backus. “The product was simple to implement and the interface is easy to understand. I identified the use of several inappropriate web sites within the first 24 hours of using Omni Manager.”
Omni Manager’s detailed reporting capability has proven to be a very useful tool for Wallingford. Until the implementation, Backus had very little visibility into students’ Internet activity. With Omni Manager, he was able to generate reports on all workstation activity, including: the types of web sites being visited, what times they were accessed, and how long the student stayed on the site; which applications were being used and with what frequency; and new applications that had been downloaded and how much bandwidth they were draining. Since they were on the same network, student computer use affected the performance of staff computers as well. If student actions caused the network to go down or slowed its performance, it would cause issues with administrative and classroom productivity as well.
“You have to identify the threats before you can address them,” said Backus. “Omni Manager gave us the forensics tools we needed right at our fingertips. It literally takes only minutes to get information. Once we determine where the problems lie, we can take corrective action, such as modifying the types of sites we’re blocking, uninstalling applications, or creating new policies that divert inappropriate activity. There are Omni Manager applications we haven’t even touched on yet that could also be helpful, such as the reporting of hardware changes. For example, if memory is stolen from a workstation, dropping from 1 GB RAM to 128 MB of RAM, we can see this almost immediately, resolve the issue and take preventive measures going forward. Omni Manager becomes an asset tracking tool as well.”
In addition to the above needs, Backus also found that Omni Manager augmented its existing state-provided web filtering software. He ran the two Internet filtering solutions concurrently, providing extra protection in instances when students had found a proxy site that was not being blocked by existing servers.
“I’ve identified several dozen game sites that students had been able to get to despite our existing filtering system being in place. Since there are a number of appropriate and useful game sites out there, such as lemonade stand or typing tests, we don’t block all game sites by default. The ones that were identified and subsequently blocked by Omni Manager were not educational in nature and had the potential to negatively impact network performance,” adds Backus.
Studying the Benefits of Software-as-a-Service
Wallingford’s implementation of Omni Manager has helped it meet its information security challenges. By implementing software-as-a-service, the school saved the time and expense of purchasing and installing multiple software products. Backus also reduced his management and administration time, enabling him to focus on other projects. The detailed reporting tools provided visibility into student activity in minutes versus hours or days, so Wallingford could stay ahead of potential problems, including bandwidth hogs that could negatively impact network performance and therefore, productivity as well. Omni Manager’s Internet filtering and blocking provided extra protection for students, identifying and blocking inappropriate sites that had slipped through the school’s existing filtering software.
“For parents, it is an invaluable benefit to know they don’t need to worry about their children surfing inappropriate Internet sites while at school. Most of the IT people in education share the same problems and issues. We need our technology products to provide significant value, and Omni Manager delivers tremendous functionality at a relatively attractive price. I think it will have universal appeal among schools, and I am confident its implementation will help us derive greater benefits from the technologies we have in place. I can definitely see us expanding our use of Omni Manager in the future,” concludes Backus.
“Wallingford Public Schools believes that in order to be a lifelong learner in today’s changing world, every student must develop and use technological skills efficiently, effectively and ethically,” said Randy Backus, Director of IT for Wallingford Public Schools.
"The product was very simple to implement and the interface is easy to understand. I was able to identify the use of inappropriate web sites within the first 24 hours of using Omni Manager. I am confident that its implementation will help us achieve the greatest benefit from the use of educational technology."
"The proliferation of Internet use in our schools provides the opportunity for expanded learning, but also brings the risk of exposure to material that is highly inappropriate for young students," said Tom Makmann, chairman and CEO, QED Connect.
"We are dedicated to meeting the needs of the educational market, having created a quickly deployable, hosted service that fits easily within school budgets. As an added benefit, Omni Manager is a CIPA-compliant solution that provides the underlying technologies necessary to enforce Internet safety policies."
