CS360 assists educational institutions in protecting the privacy and security of student and employee data. We help school systems understand what the compliance laws require, how to implement those laws effectively across multiple technologies, and how to best align with community expectations regarding data privacy and security. Ultimately, the goal is to leverage the power of information and technology to support student success.
We focus on identifying sources of security risk in your internal and external production environment, discovering and assessing technical threats and vulnerabilities, prioritizing corrective actions to improve your security posture, and recommending and documenting any compliance exceptions.
School cybersecurity is subject to more scrutiny than ever, as technology and Internet access continue to be more and more integral to the educational model. At the same time, the educational environment has become more complex, with concerns ranging from reputation management to legal compliance and privacy issues.
Major considerations include:
- Federal and state regulatory requirements, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPPA), and the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act. There are new privacy laws being introduced at a record pace. We work with our educational clients to set goals, identify gaps, and develop an achievable road map to full regulatory compliance.
- Advocacy by professional groups such as the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) to go beyond compliance to earn the trust of their stakeholders, through such programs as their Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) seal. We work with our educational clients to take the necessary steps to meet the requirements of the TLE seal program.
- Assessing potential harm to students in the event of a data breach, whether the district is in compliance or not.
- Public perception – how cybersecurity policies and procedures are viewed by the school’s stakeholders: parents, students, teachers, school board, and legislative representatives.