BYOD & monitoring

[CapnPugwash]

Hi,

 

We currently have PCE installed on all our PC's. I'm not a huge fan, apart from it needing Java I have had issues with the level (lack) of support which hopefully they have resolved now.

 

The reason we use PCE is SLT are adamant that it's the ONLY product that gives an adequate layer of monitoring...

 

Next year we will be moving slowly towards BYOD. PCE doesn't support any tablet device and I think we would struggle to justify putting any kind of client on someone else's personal device.

By the time this happens, we will be using Smoothwall , so web access should be locked down tight.

 

We obviously have an acceptable use policy that covers mobile devices but at the moment students aren't allowed to have their phones out during lessons. If we go BYOD students will be encouraged to use their devices during lessons.

 

Am interested to know what other people are doing , both in terms of monitoring software and policies.

[DavePa]

We are at the early stages with this ourselves and still working out what to do but one heads-up for you...we have found that both staff and students have been visiting 'dodgy' websites due to having installed a mobile app on their personal devices that then looks for updates as soon as it connects to a network. Stating the obvious here but make sure that everybody knows that ALL traffic is monitored and the fact that they may have a gay dating app or a casual fling app on their phone means that you WILL know about it - they don't necessarily need to be actively using it!

 

We will block any device with one of these apps from using the BYOD network until the offending apps are removed.

[tomo1095]

We are at the early stages with this ourselves and still working out what to do but one heads-up for you...we have found that both staff and students have been visiting 'dodgy' websites due to having installed a mobile app on their personal devices that then looks for updates as soon as it connects to a network. Stating the obvious here but make sure that everybody knows that ALL traffic is monitored and the fact that they may have a gay dating app or a casual fling app on their phone means that you WILL know about it - they don't necessarily need to be actively using it!

 

We will block any device with one of these apps from using the BYOD network until the offending apps are removed.

 

I second this. We've used Smoothwall for a while and made the decision recently to start giving students slightly more freedom with their personal devices, on the proviso that it's through our wireless and filtered by Smoothwall. I found it strange at first seeing so many 'dodgy' domains (dating apps etc) from random apps staying connected and updating.

[CapnPugwash]

Thanks for your answers, much appreciated. It's giving me a headache to be honest. At the moment we have no wifi so everyone is on computers and all computers are monitored by PCE. I know that when we have full wifi available , teachers will wanting to rush into BYOD, so very quickly it will be acceptable for kids to be using mobile devices in class. Smoothwall will monitor their internet usage but I don't think it will monitor the actual content of an email, so straight away, emails will be (in the main) unmonitored.

 

Equally, I can imagine kids loading their devices with all kinds of images/videos from home. They can be showing these to classmates and can probably email them to each other without it being picked up by Smoothwall?

 

I don't think there is a tech solution for this, it's going to be a combination of policies (that are clear and enforced) , user education and trust.

[tomo1095]

Thanks for your answers, much appreciated. It's giving me a headache to be honest. At the moment we have no wifi so everyone is on computers and all computers are monitored by PCE. I know that when we have full wifi available , teachers will wanting to rush into BYOD, so very quickly it will be acceptable for kids to be using mobile devices in class. Smoothwall will monitor their internet usage but I don't think it will monitor the actual content of an email, so straight away, emails will be (in the main) unmonitored.

 

Equally, I can imagine kids loading their devices with all kinds of images/videos from home. They can be showing these to classmates and can probably email them to each other without it being picked up by Smoothwall?

 

I don't think there is a tech solution for this, it's going to be a combination of policies (that are clear and enforced) , user education and trust.

 

Yeah, there's not really many ways around the things you've said. Kids bringing in photos and showing their mates is really nothing new though, there shouldn't be too much backlash on you guys, unless they access the photos through the wifi which smoothwall should filter and report on.

 

The main things probably going to be setting clear boundaries, making sure they (and parents) agree to access rules and are given E-Safety lessons before they're all given access to the wireless network at all. - If you're only just implementing it, the AUP's might need changing to include own devices.

 

Think about setting up some way of students authenticating individually to the wireless/smoothwall so you can track which student has been accessing what and to allow blocking of individual students devices.

 

Do you let staff on the wireless at the moment? Maybe select a trusted few to use as dummies for a while to get your head around the filtering/reporting after you've got smoothwall setup and working.

[Lonix]

BYOD - The lovely joys.

 

The IT Guy in Education: Bring Your Own Device

 

By all means read through this, this is something gathered for quite some time - maybe some of it will be useful to you.

 

One thing we looked at and was waiting for our provider to release it was having internet filtering at home. This would be a piece of software we would install and authenticate with the Student username/password. So no matter where they were, it would give them their internet filtering.

 

The issues we faced on this though is some Parents didn't like the idea (although others did). After discussing what issues they questioned: What if a site is blocked they needed unblocked asap but they are at home? what if the filtering caused issues going through their own WiFi, what if Parents didn't want it?

 

As for rushing in to it - don't. There has been a huge problematic issue with our schemes and they have never been smooth running. Please read through the blog, it won't show every issue we have had from day one because it's mainly something created in the last 12 months not during the entire BYOD setup.

 

And yes, we are no longer doing it.

[Duke5A]

We drop guests onto a segregated network and use the filter in a captive portal setup where the student needs to accept terms before they're allowed out. We're currently looking into requiring students to use a username and password though. This way it will not only filter, but log traffic according to username. You can take it one step further and enable SSL inspection so that the filter can filter HTTPS connections by content and just not domains - this requires students install a certificate on their device though. Our filter will actually prompt the user to do so. Edited May 10, 2016 by Duke5A