How Schools Are Achieving Better BYOD Security

District IT managers often express concerns about the new security challenges that arise when students, teachers and staff bring their own devices to school. Here are five BYOD security best practices from consultancy IT-Harvest.

• Keep tabs on potential malware and viruses. Maintain and regularly update a registry of risky apps or programs that you don’t want people to use. Make the registry open for viewing by everyone participating in the BYOD program who uses their personal devices for school or work.
• Educate the user base. Encourage users to quickly report lost or stolen devices, and respond proactively with a remote lock or wipe. Always ensure that passwords are enforced on any BYOD device.
• Protect enterprise data. Insist on the ability to perform selective wipes that will target only district data stored on a personal device. This must be done tactfully, because you don’t want to antagonize students, staff or teachers by wiping personal data.
• Authenticate and encrypt. Have users authenticate all personal devices and encrypt district data.
• Seek legal advice. Consult an attorney to determine the district’s liability for having students, teachers and staff use their own devices and set policies accordingly.

Learn more strategies in EdTech’s Feb. 14 webinar on BYOD security.