Industry: Pre-K-12
Solutions: Products owned: RapidIdentity Cloud Lifecycle Management, Authentication, Workflow
Piloting: PhishID, SafeID, and ShieldID
"Identity Automation cares about the student and teacher experience,” said Karla Tipton, Director of Technology Support Services. “You have people at IA who have worked for a school district, and they take what we ask for seriously.”
“With our existing Microsoft tools, RapidIdentity enhances the functionality to meet the unique needs and challenges in a K-12 environment. For example, QR codes and Pictograph login options.” — Matt Roper, Supervisor of Network and Security Services
Cherokee County School District is a public school system in the Atlanta area serving 42,000 PK-12 students and 6,000 employees with 40 schools and centers. The district needed a robust identity access management (IAM) system that could meet the needs of its diverse population.
More than a decade ago, Cherokee County School District chose an identity access management (IAM) system included with their existing Microsoft license. They soon realized the system was not optimized for education organizations. Instead of a system made for enterprise businesses, they needed a solution to support the unique needs of a large school district.
One challenge they faced was providing a simpler way for young and special needs students to authenticate. The previous system required students to type their full usernames and passwords to log in.
The district wanted simpler, passwordless authentication options, such as QR codes for students, and more secure options for staff, such as FIDO keys, OTP generation, and push notifications, to minimize the time teachers and students spend remembering, entering, forgetting, and resetting passwords.
With recent cybersecurity incidents that target K-12 environments, Cherokee County School District needed a partner who would take into account the specific needs and challenges of school systems. “I like that Identity Automation cares about the student and teacher experience,” said Karla Tipton, Director of Technology Support Services.
Identity Automation provided the district with a smooth implementation process. The district’s previous system required significant resources from their team. “We didn’t want to rely on an on-prem solution due to cost and the man-hours we spent maintaining the system — it became too complicated for our internal staff to handle,” said Matt Roper, Supervisor of Network and Security Services.
The RapidIdentity Cloud system automatically makes updates and notifies users about new features when they log in. “It’s very appealing … when you get new features, and you’re a RapidIdentity cloud customer, it just happens,” Roper said. “You don’t really think about it.” This eliminates the need for manual server updates during non-critical hours.
Phase one of the RapidIdentity implementation featured the following solutions:
As the chief security officer for Cherokee County Schools, Mr. Roper needed a partner who could deliver enterprise-class cybersecurity tools that did not impact the teaching and learning experience. “From a security perspective, I think that it’s very difficult to find a security solution that’s easy or convenient for our users,” Roper said.
As part of the ongoing IAM journey, the district is implementing RapidIdentity Workflow to enable staff to request privileged admin access (i.e. Domain, VPN and Azure) and to have access granted using pre-defined policies through an auditable approval process. In addition, the district is piloting other RapidIdentity security solutions, including SafeID for continuous monitoring of compromised credentials, ShieldID for advanced firewall and geofencing protection against brute force and account takeover attacks, and PhishID, a browser-based anti-phishing tool that prevents users from clicking on suspicious or known phishing links.
The RapidIdentity implementation has allowed the district to achieve strategic alignment of security initiatives that not only address technological requirements but end user experience.
The district is excited for the continued partnership and use of RapidIdentity’s IAM system and security solutions. “The magic is in the people at Identity Automation because they deliver expertise and solutions that address the needs of our students, teachers, and staff,” said Matt Roper, Supervisor of Network and Security Services.