In the realm of education, where data drives innovation in student outcomes, security is paramount. Unfortunately, coordination and collaboration at state and local levels has been cumbersome and complex, which slows down improvements in both cybersecurity and student outcome innovation. It's time for a different approach to identity management among state education systems with identity and access management that overcomes the challenges of coordination and collaboration across districts, agencies and higher education institutions. 

Spanning across the cities of Sumner and Bonney Lake, Washington, Sumner-Bonney Lake School District supports 1,075 employees and a steadily climbing student body of 10,000 through its identity access management (IAM) system management (IAM) system.

The 2023 FETC Conference in New Orleans just wrapped up, and our entire on-the-ground Identity Automation team was humbled to accept one of the industry’s top honors in the industry while also hosting a packed happy hour event, demonstrating award-winning IAM solutions, and meeting with top thought leaders throughout the four-day event.

While technology has created boundless new opportunities for learning, it has also produced ever-growing data security challenges. In years past, cyber defensive strategies were confined to internal environments.

As the fifth-largest public school district in Texas, Austin Independent School District (ISD) is guided by the motto “AISD Anywhere” to provide 100,000 students, teachers, and parents greater access to their EdTech tools.

As the fifth-largest school system in Georgia, Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) has a history of delivering quality education to a diversity of students.

When Chief Technology Officer Rod Smith stepped into his role nine years ago, there were no online systems for students to log in and access resources.

On Monday (3/21/22), the White House released a statement by President Biden on our Nation’s Cybersecurity warning that “based on evolving intelligence” U.S. companies and organizations need to urgently harden their cybersecurity defenses against potentially imminent cyberattacks.

Educational institutions are frequent targets of ransomware attacks, with account takeovers being one of the largest causes. These attacks can cost institutions millions of dollars in downtime, people time, device cost, network cost, lost opportunity, and ransom paid. Plus, ransomware attacks put institutional data at risk and can cause the school to temporarily close.

Has your district evaluated or implemented single sign-on (SSO) services to simplify your students and educators’ login experience to their online learning tools? While this is an important step forward, it’s likely not the full solution your district needs.